Skip to main content

Full text of "The Huguenots; their settlements, churches, and industries in England and Ireland"

See other formats


THE   MASSACRE  OF  ST.    BARTHOLOMEW. 
(C^EDES    COLIGN1I    ET    SOC10RTJH    EJUS.) 

From  a  painting  by  Vasari  in  the  Sala  Regia  of  the  Vatican. 


THE     HUGUENOTS 


THEIR 


SETTLEMENTS,  CHURCHES,  AND  INDUSTRIES, 
IN  ENGLAND  AND  IRELAND 


BY    SAMUEL    SMILES,   LL.D. 

AUTHOR  OF  "LIVES  OF  THE  ENGINEERS,"  "SELF-HELP,"  "THRIFT, 
"CHARACTER,"  ETC. 


SIXTH    EDITION 


LONDON 

JOHN  MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE  STREET 
1889 


WORKS  BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 


LIVES  OF  THE  ENGINEERS,     Illustrated   by  9  Steel  Portraits  and 
342  Engravings  on  Wood.     Five  vols.     ^s.  6d.  each. 
VOL.      I. — EMBANKMENTS  AND  CANALS — VERMUYDEN,  MYDDELTON, 

PERRY,  BRINDLEY. 
II. — HARBOURS,  LIGHTHOUSES,  AND  BRIDGES— SMEATON  AND 

RENNIE. 

t>     III.— HISTORY  OF  ROADS— METCALFE  AND  TELFORD. 
IV.— THE  STEAM-ENGINE— BOULTON  AND  WATT. 
V.— THE  LOCOMOTIVE— GEORGE  AND  ROBERT  STEPHEJJSON. 

***  Each  volume  may  be  had  separately. 
LIFE  OF  GEORGE  STEPHENSON,     Large  8vo  Edition,  2is.     Crown 

8vo  Edition,  75.  6d.     Smaller  Edition,  as.  6d. 
SELF-HELP:  with  Illustrations  of  Conduct  and  Perseverance.     Post  8vo. 

6s. 

CHARACTER  :  a  Book  of  Noble  Characteristics.     Post  8vo.     6s. 
DUTY  :  with  Illustrations  of  Courage,  Patience,  and  Endurance.    Post  8vo. 

6s. 

THRIFT:  a  Book  of  Domestic  Counsel.     Post  8vo.    6s. 
LIFE  AND  LABOUR:  or  Characteristics  of  Men  of  Culture  and  Genius. 

Post  8vo.     6s. 
INDUSTRIAL  BIOGRAPHY:   Iron  Workers  and  Tool  Makers.     Post 

8vo.    6s. 

MEN  OF  INVENTION.    Post  8vo.    6s. 
JAMES  NASMYTH,   ENGINEER  :  an  Autobiography.    With  Portrait 

and  90  Illustrations.     Post  8vo.     6s. 
LIFE  OF  A  SCOTCH  NATURALIST.     With  Portrait  and  Illustrations 

by  George  Reid,  R.S.A.     Post  8vo.    6s. 

ROBERT  DICK:  Baker  of  Thurso,  Geologist  and  Botanist.   With  Portrait 
etched  by  Rajon,  and  numerous  Illustrations.     Crown  8vo.     125. 


PREFACE. 


THE  First  Edition  of  this  work  was  published  in  1868, 
and  it  has  since  been  frequently  reprinted,  with 
additions.  It  was  stated  in  the  First  Edition  that 
important  names  might  have  been  omitted  from  the 
List  of  Huguenot  Refugees  and  their  Descendants  at 
the  close  of  the  volume  ;  but  the  Author  invited  further 
contributions  on  the  subject,  which  would  be  inserted 
in  any  future  edition. 

Numerous  memoirs  have  accordingly  been  sent  to 
the  Author  from  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  even 
India,  in  reply  to  his  invitation.  Many  of  these  had 
never  before  been  published,  though  they  are  of  much 
interest.  They  are  now  included  in  the  List  of 
Distinguished  Huguenots  and  their  Descendants,  and 
in  the  Appendix  to  the  same  list,  at  the  end  of  this 
volume.  The  memoirs  in  the  Appendix  are  the  most 
recent  additions. 

The  Author  has  also  received  numerous  inquiries 
from  descendants  of  Huguenots  who  had  lost  traces  of 

6 


2056458 


vi  PREFACE. 


their  origin,  requesting  information  as  to  their  ances- 
tors. Sometimes  he  was  enabled  to  supply  information, 
after  consulting  Haag's  La  France  Protestante,  Cooper's 
Lists  of  Foreign  Protestants  and  Aliens,  Burns'  His- 
tory of  the  Foreign  Refugees,  the  Ulster  Journal  of 
Archceology,  and  Agnew's  Protestant  Exiles  from 
France ;  but,  in  a  large  number  of  cases,  he  could 
give  no  information.  During  the  last  few  years, 
however,  a  Huguenot  Society  has  been  established  in 
London,  from  which  all  accessible  facts  can  be  easily 
ascertained. 

The  First  Edition  of  this  work  was  translated  into 
French  in  1870,  with  an  excellent  Preface  by  M. 
Athanase  Coquerel  fils.  It  was  printed  by  Heitz,  at 
Strasburg;  and,  while  it  was  ready  for  transport  to 
Paris,  the  city  was  surrounded  and  bombarded  by  the 
German  army,  when  a  considerable  part  of  the  edition 
was  destroyed.  After  the  conclusion  of  the  Franco- 
German  war,  the  book  was  eventually  published  by 
Cherbuliez,  of  Paris. 

The  surrenders  of  Bazaine  at  Metz,  and  of  Napo- 
leon III.  at  Sedan,  will  never  be  forgotten.  Sedan, 
prior  to  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  was 
the  renowned  seat  of  Protestant  learning ;  but  after  the 
university  had  been  suppressed,  and  the  Protestants 
driven  away  by  persecution,  Sedan  withered,  and  had 
become  almost  forgotten.  Now,  however,  it  is  known 
as  the  scene  of  the  greatest  military  catastrophe  which 
has  happened  in  modern  times. 

"  Cast  thy  bread  upon  the  waters,  and  thou  shalt 


PREFACE.  vii 


find  it  after  many  days,"  is  a  counsel  which  has 
received  a  significant  realization  in  the  relations 
between  France  and  Prussia.  A  large  number  of 
the  expatriated  refugees  took  refuge  in  Prussia, 
which  was  then  slowly  emerging  from  the  marshes 
of  Brandenburg.  France  was  the  dominant  power 
in  Europe,  while  Prussia  was  of  comparatively  little 
moment.  Now,  Prussia,  from  a  Dukedom  has 
become  a  Kingdom,  and,  on  the  soil  of  France,  an 
Empire. 

What  France  lost  by  religious  intolerance  was 
forcibly  expressed  by  M.  Jules  Simon,  when  Prime 
Minister.  Discussing  the  ecclesiastical  questions  then 
perplexing  French  politicians,  he  recalled  the  fact  that 
not  less  than  eighty  of  the  German  staff,  in  the  recent 
Franco-German  war,  were  representatives  of  Protestant 
families  who  had  been  driven  from  France  by  the 
persecutions  which  followed  the  Ee vocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes.  It  was  meet  that  the  descendants  of 
the  men  whom  Louis  XIV.,  the  despot  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  had  cast  out,  should  be  conspicuous 
in  dethroning  the  despot  of  the  nineteenth. 

LONDON  :  October,  1889. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION  .       f Page  xvii 

CHAPTER  I. 
THE  REFORMATION — INVENTION   OP   PRINTING. 

General  ferment  in  Europe  in  the  16th  century — Papal  church  and 
its  despotism — Sale  of  indulgences — Luther — Invention  of  printing 
— Gutenberg,  Faust,  and  Schceffer — Printing  of  the  Bible — Luther 
and  the  Bible — Effects  of  reading  the  Bible — Reformation  in  Meaux 
— Jacques  Lefevre — Opposed  by  the  Sorbonne — Printers  and  Bibles 
publicly  burnt — Origin  of  the  term  "  Huguenot "  .  Pages  1 — 21 

CHAPTER  II. 
EPISODE  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  PALISSY. 

The  life  of  Palissy  illustrative  of  his  epoch — Palissy  travels  in  France 
and  Germany — Joins  "  The  Religion  " — Life  at  Saintes — His  pursuit 
of  the  enamel — His  sufferings — The  early  Gospellers — Progress  of 
"  The  Religion  " — The  Huguenots  a  political  power — Religious 
persecutions  at  Saintes — Palissy  imprisoned — His  perseverance  and 
triumph ,  .  Pages  22— 37 

CHAPTER  III. 
PERSECUTIONS  OF  THE  REFORMED. 

Huguenot  men  of  genius — Increase  of  the  Reformed  party — Influence 
of  Catherine  de  Medic-is  and  the  Guises — Burning  of  Lutherans — 
Francis  Duke  of  Guise  and  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine — Mary  Queen 
of  Scots — The  conspiracy  of  Amboise — Massacre  of  the  conspirators 
— Francis  II.  and  Charles  IX. — Chancellor  de  1'Hopital — Religious 
conference — Massacre  of  Vassy — Triumph  of  the  Guises — Massacres 
throughout  France — Civil  war — Peace  of  St.  Germains  . 

Pages  38—51 


COXTJSlfTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  DUKE  OF  ALVA  IN  FLANDERS — MASSACRE  OF  ST. 
BARTHOLOMEW. 

Prosperity  of  the  Low  Countries — Rise  of  the  Jesuits — Philip  II.  es- 
tablishes the  Inquisition  in  Flanders — The  Duke  of  Alva,  his  war 
of  extermination — The  Duke  of  Parma — Flight  of  Protestants  from 
the  Low  Countries — Interview  at  Bayonne — Plot  to  exterminate 
the  French  Protestant  chiefs — Marriage  of  Henry  of  Navarre  to 
Margaret,  Princess  of  France — The  massacre  determined  on — At- 
tempt to  murder  Admiral  Coligny — Charles  IX.  orders  a  general 
massacre  of  the  Protestants — The  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew — 
Rejoicings  at  Rome — Death  of  Charles  IX. — Siege  of  La  Rochelle 
— Henry  III. — Murder  of  the  Guises — Wars  of  the  League — Assas- 
sination of  Henry  III. — Accession  of  Henry  IV.  .  Pages  52 — 71 

CHAPTER  V. 
RELATIONS  OF  ENGLAND  WITH  FRANCE  AND  SPAIN. 

England  at  the  accession  of  Elizabeth — Perils  of  Elizabeth — The  Pope 
denounces  her,  and  denies  her  legitimacy — She  gives  free  asylum 
to  foreign  Protestants — Plots  against  her  life — Maiy  Queen  of  Scots 
— The  Northern  rebellion — The  Pope  excommunicates  Elizabeth — 
Assassin's  hired  to  murder  her — Ridolfi — The  plots  defeated — News 
of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  arrive  in  England — Reception 
of  the  French  ambassador  by  the  Court — Execution  of  the  Queen 
of  Scots — Defeat  of  the  Sacred  Armada — The  reigns  of  Philip  II. 
and  Elizabeth  contrasted Pages  72 — 87 

CHAPTER  VI. 

ETTLEMENTS  AND  INDUSTRIES  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES 
IN  ENGLAND. 

Early  industry  of  England — Extensive  immigration  of  Flemish  and 
French  Protestant  artizans — The  foreigners  welcomed  by  Edward  VI. 
and  Elizabeth — Landings  at  Deal,  Sandwich,  Rye,  and  Dover — Pros- 
perity of  the  Flemings  at  Sandwich — The  industries  introduced  by 
them — Protestant  exiles  in  London — In  Southwark  and  Bermond- 
sey — At  Bow,  Wandsworth,  and  Mortlake — Native  jealousy — The 
Flemish  merchants — Numbers  of  the  immigrants — Settlement  at 


CONTENTS. 


Norwich — Protected  by  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  Queen  Elizabeth — Es- 
tablishment of  the  cloth  manufacture — Thread  and  lace  makers — 
Glass  makers — Workers  in  iron  and  steel — Fish  curers — Drainers  of 
fen-lands — Refugees  find  asylum  in  Scotland — Flemish  Protestants 
at  Swords  in  Ireland  .  .  .  .  .  Pages  88 — 115 

CHAPTER  VI L 
EAELY  WALLOON  AND  FRENCH  CHURCHES  IN  ENGLAND. 

Desire  of  the  refugees  for  freedom  of  worship — The  first  Walloon  and 
French  churches  in  London — John  A'Lasco — Dutch  church  in 
Austin  Friars — French  church  in  Threadneedle  Street — Church  at 
Glastonbury  —  Churches  at  Sandwich,  Rye,  Norwich  —  "God's 
House"  at  Southampton — Register  of  their  church — Their  fasts 
and  thanksgivings — Queen  Elizabeth  at  Southampton — Walloon 
church  at  Canterbury — Memorial  of  the  Refugees — The  Undercroft 
in  Canterbury  Cathedral — The  Lady  Chapel — Occupation  of  the 
Undercroft  by  the  Walloons — The  French  church  still  in  Canter- 
bury Cathedral — Archbishop  Laud  and  the  Refugees — Many  of  them 
fly  from  England — Laud's  reactionary  course  checked 

Pages  116—129 

CHAPTER  VII  I. 
THE  EDICT  OF  NANTES — COLBERT  AND  LOUIS  XIV. 

Accession  of  Henry  IV.  in  France — Promulgates  the  Edict  of  Nantes 
— Assassination  of  Henry  IV.  by  Ravaillac — Marie  de  Medicis 
— Renewal  of  civil  war — Cardinal  Richelieu — Second  siege  of 
Rochelle — The  besieged  attempted  to  be  relieved  by  England — The 
Huguenots  cease  to  exist  as  a  political  body — Edict  of  pardon — 
Loyalty  of  the  Huguenots — Their  industry — Their  manufactures — 
Their  honesty — Their  integrity  as  merchants — Colbert — Absolutism 
of  Louis  XIV. — His  ambition — His  wars — His  extravagance — Death 
of  Colbert — His  encouragement  of  the  Huguenots — Colbert's  policy 
and  character  ...  ...  Pages  130—142 

CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  HUGUENOT  PERSECUTIONS  UNDER  LOUIS  XIV. 

Enmity  of  Louis  XIV.  to  the  Huguenots— His  edicts  against  them — 
Death  of  the  Queen-mother,  and  her  bequest — The  persecutions  re- 


CONTENTS. 


newed — Emigration  prohibited — Cruel  edicts  of  Louis — His  amours 
and  "  conversion  " — Madame  de  Maintenon — Attempt  to  purchase 
Huguenot  consciences — Abduction  of  Protestant  children— The 
Dragonnades — Forced  conversions — The  Protestant  churches  des- 
troyed— Property  confiscated — Incident  at  Saintonge — Dragonnade 
in  Beam — Louis  XIV.  revokes  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  marries 
Madame  de  Maintenon Pages  143 — 155 

CHAPTER  X. 
RENEWED  FLIGHT  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 

Rejoicings  at  Rome  on  the  revocation  of  the  Edict — Bossuet's  and 
Massillon's  praises  of  Louis  XIV. — Consequences  of  the  revocation 
— The  military  Jacquerie — Demolition  of  Protestant  churches — 
Employment  of  the  Huguenots  proscribed — Pursued  beyond  death 
— Conversion  or  flight — Schomberg,  Ruvigny,  Duquesne  —  The 
banished  pastors — General  flight  of  the  Huguenots — Closing  of  the 
frontier — Capture  and  punishment  of  the  detected — Flight  in  dis- 
gnise — Traditions  of  hair-breadth  escapes — Flight  of  women — 
Widow  of  Lord  de  Bourdieu — Judith  Mariengault — The  Morells — 
Henri  de  Dibon — Jean  Marteilhe  of  Bergerac — The  captured  con- 
demned to  the  galleys — Young  galley-slaves — Old  galley-slaves — 
Louis  de  Marolles — John  Huber — The  flight  by  sea — Count  de 
Marance — The  Lore!  of  Castelfranc — The  Misses  Raboteau — French 
gentlewoman  refugee — David  Garric — Fumigation  of  ships'  holds — 
Numbers  of  Huguenot  fugitives  from  France — Death-blow  given  to 
French  industry — The  ''  Churches  of  the  desert "  .  Pages  156 — 178 

CHAPTER  XI. 
THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  THE  ENGLISH  REVOLUTION  OF  1G88. 

The  countries  of  the  Refuge — The  asylum  of  Geneva — The  Huguenots 
in  Switzerland;  in  Bradenberg  and  Germany — Refugees  at  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  ;  in  the  United  States— Holland  "  The  Great 
Ark  of  the  Fugitives  " — Eminent  refugees  in  the  Low  Countries — 
Their  hospitable  reception  by  the  Dutch — Refugee  soldiers  and 
sailors — William,  Prince  of  Orange :  his  relation  to  the  English 
throne — The  Stuart  kings  and  the  Protestant  refugees — Accession 
of  James  II. — Compared  with  Louis  XIV. — Attempts  to  suppress 
Protestantism — Popular  reaction — William  of  Orange  invited  over 
to  England — French  Huguenot  officers  and  soldiers  in  the  Dutch 
army — Marshal  Schomberg  ....  Pages  179 — 201 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ADVENTURES  OF  DUMONT  DE  BOSTAQUET— IRISH  CAMPAIGNS 
OF   1689-90. 

Dumont  de  Bostaquet,  a  Protestant  gentleman  of  Normandy — His 
Church  at  Lindebceuf  demolished — Dragonnades  in  Normandy — 
Soldiers  quartered  in  Protestant  families — De  Bostaquet  meditates 
flight  from  France — Journey  to  the  sea-coast — Attacked  by  the 
coast-guard — De  Bostaquet  wounded — His  flight  through  Picardy, 
and  sufferings — Refuge  in  Holland — Expedition  of  William  of 
Orange  to  England — Landing  at  Torbay — Advance  to  Exeter  and 
London — Revolution  of  1688 — The  exiles  in  London — The  Marquis 
de  Ruvigny  at  Greenwich — Huguenot  regiments  sent  into  Ireland 
— Losses  of  the  army  at  Dundalk — Landing  of  James  IL  in  Ireland 
with  a  French  army — Huguenot  regiments  recruited  in  Switzerland 
— William  III.  takes  the  field  in  person — Campaign  of  1690 — Battle 
of  the  Boyne— Death  of  Marshal  Schomberg  .  Pages  202—226 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
HUGUENOT   OFFICERS  IN   THE  BRITISH   SERVICE. 

Henry,  second  Marquis  de  Ruvigny,  distinguishes  himself  at  the  battle 
of  Aughrim,  and  is  created  Earl  of  Galway — War  in  Savoy — Earl 
of  Galway  placed  in  command — Appointed  Lord  Justice  in  Ireland 
— Founding  of  Portarlington — The  Huguenot  regiments — Earl  of 
Galway  takes  command  of  the  army  in  Spain — Bravery  of  the 
Huguenot  soldiers — Jean  Cavalier,  the  Camisard  leader — The  war 
of  the  Blouses — Cavalier  enters  the  service  of  William  III. — His 
desperate  valour  at  the  battle  of  Almanza  in  Spain — Made  gover- 
nor of  Jersey  and  major-general — Rapin-Thoyras,  the  soldier- 
historian — John  de  Bodt,  the  engineer — Field-marshal  Lord  Ligonier 
— The  Huguenot  sailors — Admiral  Gambier  .  .  .  Pages  227 — 241 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
HUGUENOT   MEN   OF   SCIENCE   AND  LEARNING. 

The  Huguenots  refugees  for  liberty — The  emigration  a  protest  against 
intellectual  and  religious  tyranny — Eminent  refugees — Solomon  de 
Caus — Denis  Papin,  his  scientific  eminence — Dr.  Desaguliers — 
David  Durancl — Abraham  de  Moivre — Refugee  Literati  —  Jean 
Graverol — Refugee  pastors:  Abbadie  ;  Saurin ;  AUix;  Pinetoa, 


CONTEXTS. 


his  escape  from  France — Huguenot  Churchmen  and  Dissenters — 
The  Du  Moulins — James  Capel — Claude  de  la  Mothe — Armand  du 
Bourdieu .  Pages  242—260 

CHAPTER  XV. 
HUGUENOT  SETTLEMENTS   IN   ENGLAND — MEN   OF   INDUSTRY. 

Flight  of  the  manufacturing  class  from  France — Districts  from  which 
they  chiefly  came — Money  brought  by  them  into  England — Mea- 
sures taken  for  relief  of  the  destitute — French  Belief  Committee 
— The  Huguenots  self-helping  and  helpful  of  each  other — Their 
Benefit  societies — Their  settlements  in  Spitalfields  and  other  parts  of 
London — They  introduce  new  branches  of  industry  from  France — 
Establishment  of  the  silk-manufacture — Silk  stocking  trade — Glass- 
works— Paper-mills — The  De  Portal  family — Henry  de  Portal,  the 
paper-maker — Manufactures  at  Canterbury,  Norwich,  and  Ipswich 
— Lace-making — Refugee  industries  in  Scotland  .  Pages  261 — 277 

CHAPTER  XVI 
THE  HUGUENOT  CHURCHES  IN  ENGLAND. 

Large  number  of  refugee  churches  in  London — French  church  of 
Threadneedle  Street — Church  of  the  Savoy — Swallow  Street  church, 
Piccadilly — French  churches  in  Spitalfields — Churches  in  subur- 
ban districts — The  Malthouse  church,  Canterbury — "  God's  House," 
Southampton — French  churches  at  Bristol,  Plymouth,  Stonehouse, 
Dartmouth,  and  Exeter — Churches  at  Thorpe-le-Soken,  Essex — 
Gradual  decadence  of  the  churches — Lamentations  of  the  Rev.  M. 
Bourdillon — Founding  of  the  French  Hospital — Governors  and 
directors  of  the  institution — Remnant  of  the  refugee  churches  a 
Canterbury  and  Norwich Pages  278 — 291 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

HUGUENOT  SETTLEMENTS   IN  IRELAND. 

Attempts  to  establish  the  linen-trade  in  Ireland  by  refugees — 
Flemish  refugees — The  Duke  of  Ormond — Efforts  of  William  III. 
to  promote  Irish  industry — French  refugee  colony  at  Dublin — 
Settlement  at  Lisburn,  near  Belfast — Louis  Crommelin  appointed 
"  Overseer  of  Royal  Linen  Manufactory  of  Ireland  " — His  labours 
crowned  with  success — Peter  Goyer— Settlements  at  Kilkenny  and 
Cork — Life  and  adventures  of  James  of  Fontaine  in  England  and 


CONTENTS. 


Ireland  —  Settlement  at  Youghal  —  Refugee  colony  at  Waterford  — 
The  French  town  of  Portarlington  —  Its  inhabitants  and  their  des- 
cendants —  Prosperity  of  the  north  of  Ireland  .  Pages  292  —  317 


CHAPTER 
DESCENDANTS  OF  THE  REFUGEES. 

The  descendants  of  the  refugee  Flemings  and  French  still  recognisable 
in  England  —  Changes  of  name  by  the  Flemings  —  The  Des  Bouveries 
family  —  Hugesseas  —  Houblons  —  Eminent  descendants  of  Flemish 
refugees  —  The  Grote  family  —  Changes  of  French  names—  Names 
still  preserved  —  The  Queen's  descent  from  a  Huguenot  —  The  Trench 
family  —  Peers  descended  from  Huguenots  —  Peerages  of  Taunton, 
Eversley,  and  Romilly  —  The  Lefevres  —  Family  of  Romilly  —  Baro- 
nets descended  from  Huguenots  —  Members  of  Parliament  —  Emi- 
nent scholars  :  Archdeacon  Jortin,  Maturin,  Dutens,  Rev.  William 
Romaine  —  Eminent  lawyers  descended  from  refugees  —  Eminent 
literary  men  of  the  same  origin  —  The  handloom  wearers  of  Spital- 
fields  —  The  Dollonds  —  Lewis  Paul,  inventor  of  spinning  by  rollers 
—  Migration  from  Spitalfields  —  The  last  persecutions  in  France  — 
The  descendants  of  the  Huguenot  refugees  become  British  . 

Pages  318—343 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

CONCLUSION  —  THE  FBENCH  BEVOLUT10N. 

Effects  of  the  persecutions  in  Flanders  and  France  —  Spain—  Suppres- 
sion of  Protestantism  and  liberty—  Disappearance  of  great  men  in 
France  after  the  Revocation  —  Triumph  of  the  Jesuits  —  Aggrandise- 
ment of  the  Church  —  Hunger  and  emptiness  of  the  people—  Extinc- 
tion of  religion—  The  Church  assailed  by  Voltaire  —  Persecution  of 
the  clergy—  The  Reign  of  Terror—  Flight  of  the  nobles  and  clergy 
from  France  into  Germany  and  England  —  The  dragonnades  of  the 
Huguenots  repeated  in  the  noyades  of  the  Royalists—  Louis  XVI. 
and  Marie  Antoinette  the  victims  of  Louis  XIV.  —  Relation  of  the 
Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  to  the  French  Revolution  — 
Conclusion  .  .  .....  Pages  344—  356 

LIST  OF  DISTINGUISHED  REFUGEE  PROTESTANTS  and  their  des. 
cendants    ........        Pages  357—431 

APPENDIX     .......        .  „      431—448 

INDEX  .........  449—458 


THE  geographical  position  of  Britain  has,  from  the 
earliest  times,  rendered  it  a  country  of  refuge.  Front- 
ing Europe,  yet  separated  from  it  by  a  deep  sea-moat, 
the  proscribed  of  other  lands  have  by  turns  sought 
the  protection  of  the  island  fortress,  and  made  it  their 
home.  To  the  country  of  the  Britons  the  Saxons 
brought  their  industry,  the  Northmen  their  energy, 
and  the  Flemings  and  French  their  skill  and  spirit 
of  liberty ;  and  out  of  the  whole  has  come  the  English 
nation. 

MICHELET,  the  French  historian — though  his  obser- 
vations in  regard  to  England  are  usually  conceived 
in  a  hostile  spirit — has  nevertheless  acknowledged 
the  free  Asylum  which  this  country  has  in  all  times 
afforded  to  foreigners  flying  from  persecution  abroad. 
"  Hateful  as  England  is,"  says  he,  "  she  appears  grand 
indeed,  as  she  faces  Europe, — as  she  faces  Dunkirk 
and  Antwerp  in  ruins.  All  other  countries — Russia, 
Austria,  Italy,  Spain,  and  France — have  their  capi- 
tals on  the  west,  opposite  the  setting  sun:  the 


rXTR  OD  TJCT10N. 


great  European  vessel  seems  to  float  with  her  sails 
bellied  by  the  wind,  which  erst  blew  from  Asia. 
England  alone  has  hers  pointed  to  the  east,  as  if  in 
defiance  of  that  world — unum  omnia  contra.  This 
last  country  of  the  Old  World  is  the  heroical  land ; 
the  constant  refuge  of  the  exiled  and  the  energetic. 
All  who  have  ever  fled  servitude, — Druids  pursued 
by  Rome,  Gallo-Romans  chased  by  the  barbarians, 
Saxons  proscribed  by  Charlemagne,  famished  Danes, 
grasping  Normans,  the  persecuted  Flemish  manufac- 
turers, the  vanquished  French  Calvinists, — all  have 
crossed  the  sea,  and  made  the  great  island  their  coun- 
try :  arva,  beata  petamus  arva,  divites  et  insulas  .  . . 
Thus  England  has  thriven  on  misfortunes  and  grown 
great  out  of  ruins." l 

The  early  industry  of  England  was  almost  entirely 
pastoral  Down  to  a  comparatively  recent  period,  it 
was  a  great  grazing  country,  and  its  principal  staple 
was  Wool.  The  English  people  being  as  yet  unskilled 
in  the  arts  of  manufacture,  the  wool  was  bought  up 
by  foreign  merchants,  and  exported  abroad  in  large 
quantities,  principally  to  Flanders  and  France,  there 
to  be  manufactured  into  cloth,  and  partly  returned  in 
that  form  for  sale  in  the  English  markets. 

The  English  kings,  desirous  of  encouraging  home 
industry,  held  out  repeated  inducements  to  foreign 
artizans  to  come  over  and  settle  in  this  country  for  the 

1  History  of  France,  Book  III. 


INTRODUCTION. 


purpose  of  instructing  their  subjects  in  the  industrial 
arts.  This  policy  was  pursued  during  many  successive 
reigns,  more  particularly  in  that  of  Edward  III. ;  and, 
by  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  large  numbers 
of  Flemish  artizans,  driven  out  of  the  Low  Countries 
by  the  tyranny  of  the  trades-unions  as  well  as  by  civil 
wars,  embraced  the  offers  held  out  to  them,  settled  in 
various  parts  of  England,  and  laid  the  foundations  of 
English  skilled  industry. 

But  by  far  the  most  important  emigrations  of 
skilled  foreigners  from  Europe,  were  occasioned  by  the 
religious  persecutions  which  prevailed  in  Flanders  and 
France  for  a  considerable  period  after  the  Reformation. 
Two  great  waves  of  foreign  population  then  flowed 
over  from  the  Continent  into  England, — probably  the 
largest  in  point  of  numbers  which  have  occurred  since 
the  date  of  the  Saxon  settlement.  The  first  took  place 
in  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  con- 
sisted partly  of  French,  but  principally  of  Flemish 
Protestants ;  the  second,  towards  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  consisted  almost  entirely  of  French 
Huguenots. 

The  second  of  these  emigrations,  consequent  on  the 
religious  persecutions  which  followed  the  Revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  by  Louis  XIV.,  was  of  extra- 
ordinary magnitude.  According  to  Sismondi,  the  loss 
which  it  occasioned  to  France  was  not  far  short  of 
a  million  of  persons,  and  these  were  her  best  and  most 
industrious  subjects.  Although  the  circumstances  con- 


IXTRODUCTIOy. 


nected  with  this  remarkable  exodus,  as  well  as  the 
events  which  flowed  from  them,  exercised  an  important 
influence  on  the  political,  religious,  and  industrial 
history  of  Northern  Europe,  they  have  as  yet,  viewed 
in  this  connection,  received  but  slight  notice  at  the 
hands  of  the  historian. 

It  is  the  object  of  the  following  work  io  give  an 
account  of  the  causes  which  led  to  these  great  migrations 
of  Flemish  and  French  Protestants  from  Flanders  and 
France  into  England,  and  to  describe  their  effects  upon 
English  industry  as  well  as  English  histoiy.  The 
author  merely  offers  the  book  as  a  contribution  to  the 
study  of  the  subject,  which  seems  to  be  one  well 
worthy  of  further  investigation. 


THE    HUGUENOTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

RISE  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 

A  GENERAL  ferment  pervaded  Europe  about  the  be- 
ginning of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  minds  of  men 
in  all  countries  were  fretting  under  the  trammels 
which  bound  them.  Privilege  prevailed  everywhere  ; 
the  people  could  not  breathe  freely ;  they  felt  them- 
selves enslaved,  and  longed  for  liberty. 

At  the  same  time  intelligence  was  advancing.  The 
leaders  of  thought  were  gradually  adding  to  the  domain 
of  science.  Important  inventions  had  been  made;  a 
new  world  had  just  been  discovered  by  Columbus ; 
and  great  thinkers  were  casting  their  thoughts  abroad 
on  the  world,  stimulating  other  minds  to  action,  and 
pointing  the  way  to  greater  freedom. 

But  a  great  barrier  stood  in  the  way  of  all  further 
advancement  in  the  direction  of  human  enfranchise- 
ment and  liberty.  The  Papal  Church  upheld  des- 
potism, arrested  science,  suppressed  thought,  and 
barred  progress.  Wherever  free  inquiry  showed  itself, 
whether  in  religion  or  science,  the  Church  endeavoured 
to  crush  it.  For  this  purpose,  the  Inquisition  was 
established.  Savonarola  was  burnt  at  Florence,  and 
Huss  at  Constance;  whilst,  at  Rome,  Bruno  was 
condemned  to  the  stake,  and  Galileo  was  imprisoned,  if 
he  was  not  even  put  to  the  torture,  and  compelled  to 
recant  his  theory  of  the  earth's  motion  round  the  sun. 

1 


a  ABUSES  IN  Tilt!  CHURCJf.  CHAP.  1. 

Meanwhile,  the  Church  itself  was  seen  to  be  a 
mass  of  abuses  ;  and  the  feeling  of  its  intolerableness 
at  length  broke  out  into  a  general  demand  for  its 
reformation.  There  were  many  eminent  churchmen 
who  sought  to  reform  it  from  within.  Amongst  these, 
St.  Bernard  and  others  raised  their  voices  long  before 
the  sixteenth  century  ;  but  the  corrupt  influences 
which  prevailed  in  the  Church  were  too  powerful  to 
be  overcome,  and  the  reform  was  left  to  be  done  from 
without. 

The  profligacy  and  despotism  of  the  Papal  Church 
might,  however,  have  continued  for  centuries  longer, 
had  not  its  agents  proceeded  to  insult  too  audaciously 
the  common  sense  and  conscience  of  mankind,  by  the 
open  sale  of  indulgences  to  commit  sin,  as  well  as 
absolutions  for  sins  that  had  been  committed.  The 
young  and  voluptuous  Pope  Leo  X.,  who  succeeded 
the  warlike  Pope  Julius  II.  in  1513,  entertained  the 
ambition  of  rearing  an  ecclesiastical  fabric  which 
should  surpass  in  magnificence  all  that  had  preceded 
it.  He  surrounded  himself  with  the  greatest  artists : 
Bramante,  who  designed  it;  Raphael,  who  painted  its 
galleries;  and  Michael  Angelo,  who  finished  it;  and 
the  cathedral  of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  was  at  length 
achieved.  But  it  was  at  an  enormous  cost ;  for  not 
only  did  it  impoverish  the  Papal  exchequer,  but  it 
split  the  Papal  Church  itself  in  pieces. 

The  sale  of  Indulgences  was  invented  for  the  purpose 
of  replenishing  the  Roman  exchequer,  and  agents  were 
sent  all  over  Europe  to  raise  funds  by  this  means. 
Germany  was  then  the  great  stronghold  of  the  Papal 
treasury.  In  Spain  and  France,  it  was  the  will  of 
the  King,  rather  than  of  the  Pope,  that  ruled ;  but  in 
Germany  the  civil  authority  was  in  a  great  measure 
left  to  the  ecclesiastical  power.  In  Germany,  therefore, 
the  first  great  efforts  were  made  to  fill  the  coffers  of 
Rome  by  the  sale  of  indulgences  ;  and  among  the  most 
zealous  of  all  the  agents  who  were  so  employed,  was 
the  Dominican  monk,  John  Tetzel,  who  acted  in 


CHAP.  t.  SALE  OF  INDULGENCES.  3 

subordination   to  Albert  of  Brandenburg,  Elector  of 
Mentz,  the  principal  commissary  of  the  Pope. 

The  traffic  of  indulgences  was  carried  on  openly. 
Indulgences  were  sold  by  auction,  at  beat  of  drum, 
in  public  places.  They  were  sold  by  wholesale  and 
retail.  The  traffic  had  its  directors  and  sub-directors, 
— its  officers,  its  tariffs,  its  travelling  factors ;  and 
those  agents  were  employed  who  best  knew  the  art 
of  deceiving  and  cozening  the  people. 

Never  had  such  privileges  to  commit  sin  been 
offered  to  the  world,  as  those  which  were  now  openly 
hawked  about  by  Tetzel.  A  regular  tariff  was  fixed,1 
— so  much  for  little  sins,  so  much  for  great  sins,  so 
much  for  eating  meat  on  Fridays,  so  much  for  lying, 
so  much  for  theft,  so  much  for  adultery,  so  much  for 
child-murder,  so  much  for  assassination.  Bigamy  cost 
only  six  ducats.  This  abominable  traffic  could  not  fail 
to  rouse  the  indignation  of  good  men,  who  saw,  with 
affliction,  people  of  all  ranks  running  after  Tetzel  to 
buy  indulgence  for  committing  sin  ;  and  at  length  the 
public  conscience  spoke  through  the  voices  of  bold  and 
earnest  men,  and,  most  loudly  of  all,  through  that  of 
Martin  Luther. 

In  the  meantime  a  great  invention  had  been  made, 
which  gave  wings  to  Luther's  words,  and  accelerated 
the  coming  Reformation  in  a  remarkable  degree. 

Probably  no  invention  has  exercised  a  greater  in- 
fluence upon  modern  civilisation  than  that  of  Printing. 
While  it  has  been  the  mother  and  preserver  of  many 
other  inventions  which  have  changed  the  face  of 
society,  it  has  also  afforded  facilities  for  the  intercourse 
of  mind  with  mind — of  living  men  with  each  other,  as 

1  The  tariff  of  indulgences  is  excessively  strict,  from  the  year 

set  forth  at  length  in  the  cele-  1471  downwards,  under  the  eyes 

brated  book  entitled  Taxes  of  the  of    the    successive    Popes,    and 

Roman  Chancery.    It  is  now  re-  doubtless  with    their  sanction  ; 

pudiated  by   Roman  Catholics  ;  for  no  book  could  then  be  printed 

but  repeated  editions  of  it  (ten  or  published  that  had  not  been 

in  number)  were   published    at  previously  licensed. 
Home,  when  the  censorship  was 


4  INVENTION  OF  PRINTING.  CHAP.  1. 

well  as  with  the  thinkers  of  past  generations, — which 
have  evoked  an  extraordinary  degree  of  mental  activity, 
and  exercised  a  powerful  influence  on  the  development 
of  modern  history. 

Although  letters  were  diligently  cultivated  long 
before  the  invention  of  printing,  and  many  valuable 
books  existed  in  manuscript,  and  seminaries  of  learning 
flourished  in  all  civilised  countries,  knowledge  was  for 
the  most  part  confined  to  a  comparatively  small  num- 
ber of  persons.  The  manuscripts  which  contained  the 
treasured  thoughts  of  the  ancient  poets,  scholars,  and 
men  of  science,  were  so  scarce  and  dear  that  they  were 
frequently  sold  for  double  or  treble  their  weight  in 
gold.  In  some  cases  they  were  considered  so  precious, 
that  they  were  conveyed  by  deed,  like  landed  estates. 
In  the  thirteenth  century,  a  manuscript  copy  of  the 
Romance  of  the  Rose  was  sold  at  Paris  for  over  £33 
sterling.  A  copy  of  the  Bible  cost  from  £40  to  £60  for 
the  writing  only;  for  it  took  an  expert  copyist  about  ten 
months'  labour  to  make  one.1  Such  being  the  case,  it 
will  be  obvious  that  books  were  then  for  the  most  part 
the  luxury  of  the  rich,  and  comparatively  inaccessible 
to  the  great  body  of  the  people. 

1  It  is  difficult  to  form  an  ac-  13s.  4d.),  and  of  resident  parish- 
curate  idea  of  the  relative  value  priests  eight  marks  ;  so  that  for 
of  money  to  commodities  in  the  about  £5  10s.  a-year,  a  single  man 
thirteenth  century,  compared  was  expected  to  live  cleanly  and 
with  present  prices  ;  but  it  may  decently.  These  prices  multi- 
be  mentioned  that  in  1445  (ac-  plied  by  about  twelve,  would  give 
cording  to  Fleetwood's  Chronican  something  approaching  their 
Pretwgum,  1707)  the  price  of  equivalent  in  modern  money, 
wheat  was  4s.  6d.  the  quarter,  It  is  true,  manuscripts  were  in 
and  oats  2s.;  bullocks  and  heifers  many  cases  sold  at  fancy  prices, 
sold  for  5s.,  and  sheep  2s.  5^d.  as  books  are  now.  But  copying 
each.  In  1460  a  gallon  of  ale  had  become  a  regular  branch  of 
sold  for  a  penny,  which  was  also  business.  At  Milan,  in  the  four- 
the  ordinary  day's  wage  of  la-  teenth  century,  about  fifty  per- 
bourers  and  servants,  in  addition  sons  earned  their  living  by  it. 
to  meat  and  drink.  As  late  as  The  ordinary  charge  for  making 
1558,  a  good  sheep  sold  for  2s.  lOd.  a  copy  of  the  Bible  was  eighty 
In  1414  the  ordinary  salary  of  Bologna  livres,  or  equal  to  fifty- 
chaplains  was  five  or  six  marks  three  gold  florins, 
a-year  (the  mark  being  equal  to 


CHAP.  I.  POWER   OF  PRINTING.  8 

Even  the  most  advanced  minds  could  exercise  but 
little  influence  on  their  age.  They  were  able  to  ad- 
dress themselves  to  only  a  very  limited  number  of  their 
fellow-men,  and  in  most  cases  their  influence  died  with 
them.  The  results  of  study,  investigation,  and  ex- 
perience remaining  unrecorded,  knowledge  was  for  the 
most  part  transmitted  orally,  and  often  inaccurately. 
Thus  many  arts  and  inventions  discovered  by  in- 
dividuals became  lost  to  the  race,  and  a  point  of  social 
stagnation  was  arrived  at,  beyond  which  further  pro- 
gress seemed  improbable. 

This  state  of  things  was  entirely  changed  by  the 
invention  of  printing.  It  gave  a  new  birth  to  letters  ; 
it  enabled  books  to  be  perpetually  renovated  and 
multiplied  at  a  comparatively  moderate  cost,  and  to 
diffuse  the  light  which  they  contained  over  a  much 
larger  number  of  minds  ;  it  gave  a  greatly  increased 
power  to  individuals  and  to  society,  by  facilitating  the- 
intercourse  of  educated  men  of  all  countries  with  each 
other.  Active  thinkers  were  no  longer  restricted  by 
the  limits  of  their  town  or  parish,  or  even  of  their 
nation  or  epoch  ;  and  the  knowledge  that  their  printed 
words  would  have  an  effect  where  their  spoken  words 
did  not  reach,  could  not  fail  to  stimulate  the  highest 
order  of  minds  into  action.  The  permanency  of  in- 
vention and  discovery  was  thus  secured ;  the  most 
advanced  point  of  one  generation  became  the  starting- 
point  of  the  next ;  and  the  results  of  the  labours  of 
one  age  were  carried  forward  into  all  the  ages  that 
succeeded.1 

The  invention  of  printing,  like  most  others,  struggled 
slowly  and  obscurely  into  life.  The  wooden  blocks  or 

1  See    C.    BABBAGE'S   Ninth  are  letters  to  be  magnified,  which, 

Bridgenater  Treatise,  pp.  52-6.  as  ships,  pass  through  the  vast 

Lord  Bacon  has  observed, — "  If  seas  of  time,  and  make  ages  so 

the     invention    of     ships    was  distant  to  participate  of  the  wis- 

thought  so  noble,  which  carrieth  dom,   illuminations,  and    inven- 

ri^hes    and    commodities    from  tions,  the  one  of  the  other  1 " 
place  to  place,  how  much  more 


6  PRINTING   OF  THE  BIBLE.  CHAP.  L 

tablets  of  Laurence  Coster  were  superseded  by  separate 
types  of  the  same  material.  Gutenberg  of  Mentz  next 
employed  large  types  cut  in  metal,  from  which  the 
impressions  were  taken.  And,  finally,  Gutenberg's 
associate  Schceffer  cut  the  characters  in  a  matrix,  after 
which  the  types  were  cast,  and  thus  completed  the  art 
as  it  now  remains. 

It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance,  that  the  first  book 
which  Gutenberg  undertook  to  print  with  his  cut- 
metal  types,  was  a  folio  edition  of  the  Bible  in  the 
Latin  Vulgate,  consisting  of  641  leaves.  When  the 
immense  labour  involved  in  carrying  out  such  a  work 
is  considered — the  cutting  by  hand,  with  imperfect 
tools,  of  each  separate  type  required  for  the  setting  of 
a  folio  page,  and  the  difficulties  to  be  overcome  with 
respect  to  vellum,  paper,  ink,  and  presswork — one 
cannot  but  feel  astonished  at  the  boldness  of  the 
undertaking ;  nor  can  it  be  matter  of  surprise  that 
the  execution  of  the  work  occupied  Gutenberg  and  his 
associates  a  period  of  from  seven  to  eight  years.1 


1  The  first  Bible  printed  by  it  with  astonishing  success.    It 

Gutenberg    is    known    as    the  was  Minerva  leaping  on  earth  in 

Mazarin  Bible,  from  a  copy  of  her  divine  strength  and  radiant 

it  having  been  found  in  Cardinal  armour,  ready  at  the  moment  of 

Mazarin's  library  at  Paris  about  her  nativity  to  subdue  and  destroy 

the  middle  of  last  century.  John-  her  enemies.    The  Mazarin  Bible 

son,  in  his  Typographic,  (p.  17),  is  printed,  some  copies  on  vellum, 

says :  "  It  was  printed  with  large  some  on  paper  of  choice  quality, 

cut-metal  types,  and  published  in  with  strong,  black,  and  tolerably 

1450."     Others  give  the  date  of  handsome  characters,  but  with 

publication  as  five  years  later,  in  some  want  of  uniformity,  which 

1455.     Mr.  Hallam  inclines  to  has  led,  perhaps  unreasonably,  to 

think  that  it  was  printed  with  doubt  whether  they  were  cast  in 

cast-metal   types ;   but  there  is  a  matrix.  We  may  see  in  imagina- 

reason  to  believe  that  the  casting  tion  this  venerable  and  splendid 

of  the  types  by  a  matrix  was  in-  volume  leading  up  the  crowded 

vented  at  a  subsequent  period.  myriads    of   its   followers,   and 

Mr.  Hallam  says :  "  It  is  a  very  imploring,  as  it  were,  a  blessing 

striking   circumstance   that  the  on  the  new  art,  by  dedicating 

high-minded   inventors   of   this  its  first-fruits  to  the  service  of 

great  art  tried  at  the  very  outset  Heaven."  —  Literary     History, 

so  bold  a  flight  as  the  printing  edition  1864,  pp.  156-7. 
an  entire   Bible,  and  executed 


CHAP.  I.         GUTENBERQ,  SCIKEFFER,  FAUST.  7 

We  do  not,  however,  suppose  that  Gutenberg  and 
his  associates  were  induced  to  execute  this  first  printed 
Bible  through  any  more  lofty  motive  than  that  of 
earning  a  considerable  sum  of  money  by  the  enterprise. 
They  were,  doubtless,  tempted  to  undertake  it  by  the 
immense  prices  for  which  manuscript  copies  of  the 
Bible  were  then  sold ;  and  they  merely  sought  to  pro- 
duce, by  one  set  of  operations,  a  number  of  duplicates 
in  imitation  of  the  written  character,  which  they  hoped 
to  be  able  to  sell  at  the  manuscript  prices.  But,  as 
neither  Gutenberg  nor  Schceffer  were  rich  men,  and  as 
the  work  involved  great  labour  and  expense  while 
in  progress,  they  found  it  necessary  to  invite  some 
capitalist  to  join  them ;  and  hence  their  communication 
of  the  secret  to  John  Faust,  the  wealthy  goldsmith  of 
Mentz,  who  agreed  to  join  them  in  their  venture,  and 
supply  them  with  the  necessary  means  for  carrying 
out  the  undertaking. 

The  first  edition  of  the  printed  Bible  having  been 
disposed  of,  without  the  secret  having  transpired,  Faust 
and  Schoaffer  brought  out  a  second  edition  in  1462, 
which  they  again  offered  for  sale  at  the  manuscript 
prices.  Faust  carried  a  number  of  copies  to  Paris  to 
dispose  of,  and  sold  several  of  them  for  500  or  600 
crowns, — the  price  then  paid  for  manuscript  Bibles. 
But  great  was  the  astonishment  of  the  Parisian  copyists 
when  Faust,  anxious  to  dispose  of  the  remainder, 
lowered  his  price  to  sixty  and  then  to  thirty  crowns  ! 
The  copies  sold  having  been  compared  with  each  other, 
were  found  to  be  exactly  uniform  !  It  was  immediately 
inferred  that  these  Bibles  must  be  produced  by  magic, 
as  such  an  extraordinary  uniformity  was  considered 
entirely  beyond  the  reach  of  human  contrivance.  In- 
formation was  forthwith  given  to  the  police  against 
Faust  as  a  magician.  His  lodgings  were  searched, 
when  a  number  of  Bibles  were  found  there  complete. 
The  red  ink,  with  which  they  were  embellished,  was 
supposed  to  be  his  blood.  It  was  seriously  believed 
that  he  was  in  league  with  the  devil ;  and  he  was 


6  EXTENSION  OF  PRINTING.  CHAP.  I. 

carried  off  to  prison,  from  which  he  was  only  delivered 
upon  making  a  full  revelation  of  the  secret.1 

Several  other  books,  of  less  importance,  were  printed 
by  Gutenberg  and  Schoeffer  at  Mentz  ;  two  editions  of 
the  Psalter,  a  Catholicon,  a  Codex  Psalmorum,  and  an 
edition  of  Cicero's  Offices ;  but  they  were  printed  in 
such  small  numbers,  and  were  sold  at  such  high  prices, 
that,  like  the  manuscripts  which  they  superseded,  they 
were  only  purchasable  by  kings,  nobles,  collegiate 
bodies,  and  rich  ecclesiastical  establishments.  It  was 
only  after  the  lapse  of  many  years,  when  the  manufac- 
ture of  paper  had  become  improved,  and  Schoeffer  had 
invented  his  method  of  cutting  the  characters  in  a 
matrix,  and  casting  the  type  in  quantity,  that  books 
could  be  printed  in  such  forms  as  to  be  accessible  to 
the  great  body  of  the  people. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  printing  establishments  of 
Gutenberg  and  Schceffer  were  broken  up  by  the  sack 
and  plunder  of  Mentz  by  the  Archbishop  Adolphus  in 
1462.  Their  workmen  having  thus  become  dispersed, 
and  being  no  longer  bound  to  secrecy,  they  shortly  after 
carried  with  them  the  invention  of  the  new  art  into 
nearly  every  country  in  Europe. 

Wherever  the  printers  set  up  their  trade,  they  usually 
began  by  issuing  an  edition  of  the  Latin  Bible.  There 
was  no  author  class  in  those  days  to  supply  "  copy  " 
enough  to  keep  their  presses  going.  Accordingly,  they 
fell  back  upon  the  ancient  authors — issuing  editions  of 
Livy,  Horace,  Sallust,  Cicero,  and  portions  of  Aristotle, 
with  occasional  devotional  manuals ;  but  their  favourite 
book,  most  probably  because  it  was  the  one  most  in 
demand,  was  the  Bible.  Only  twenty-four  books  were 
published  in  Germany  during  the  ten  years  that  fol- 
lowed the  sack  of  Mentz ;  but  of  these  five  were  Latin 
and  two  were  German  Bibles.  Translators  were  at  the 
same  time  busily  engaged  upon  it  in  different  countries, 

1  Such  is  supposed  to  be  the      believed  that  Faust  died  of  the 
origin  of  the  tradition  of  "The      plague  at  Paris  iii  14G6. 
Devil  and  Dr.  Faustus."    It  is 


CHAP.  I.  EDITIONS   OF  THE  BIBLE.  9 

and  year  by  year  the  Bible  became  more  accessible. 
Thus  an  Italian  version  appeared  in  1471,  a  Bohemian 
in  1475,  a  Dutch  in  1477,  a  French  in  1477,  and  a 
Spanish  (Valencian)  in  1478.1 

The  Bible,  however,  continued  a  comparatively  scarce 
and  dear  book ;  being  little  known  to  the  clergy 
generally,  and  still  less  to  the  people.  By  many  of  the 
former  it  was  regarded  with  suspicion,  and  even  with 
hostility.  At  length,  the  number  of  editions  of  the 
Bible  which  were  published  in  Germany,  as  if  heralding 
the  approach  of  the  coming  Reformation,  seriously 
alai'med  the  Church ;  and  in  1486  the  Archbishop  of 
Mentz  placed  the  printers  of  that  city,  which  had  been 
the  cradle  of  the  printing-press,  under  strict  censorship. 
Twenty-five  years  later,  Pope  Alexander  VI.  issued  a 
bull  prohibiting  the  printers  of  Cologne,  Mentz,  Treves, 
and  Magdeburg,  from  publishing  any  books  without 
the  express  licence  of  their  archbishops.  Although 
these  measures  were  directed  against  the  printing  of 
religious  works  generally,  they  were  more  particularly 
directed  against  the  publication  of  the  Scriptures  in 
the  vulgar  tongue.2 

The  printers,  nevertheless,  continued  to  print  the 


1  Lord  Spencer's  famous  library  Testament  was  first  printed  at 
contains  twenty  editions  of  the  Antwerp.    The  government  tried 
Bible  in  Latin,  printed  between  to  suppress  the  book,  and  many 
the  appearance  of  the  Mazarin  copies  were   seized    and  burnt. 
Bible  in  1450-5,  and  the  year  1480  John   Tyndale,  a   merchant    of 
inclusive.     It  also  contains  nine  London,  brother  of  the  translator, 
editions   of   the    German  Bible,  having  been  convicted  of  reading 
printed  before  the  year  1495. —  the  New  Testament,was  sentenced 
Kee  EDWARDS  on  Libraries,  p.  by  the    venerable    Sir   Thomas 
430.  More  "  that  he   should   be   set 

2  HALLAM — Literary  History,  upon  a  horse  with  his  face  to 
ed.  1864.  i.  254.    No  translation  the  tail,  and  have  a  paper  pinned 
of  the  Bible  was  permitted  to  upon  his  head,  and  many  sheets 
appear  in  England  during  the  of  New  Testaments  sewn  to  his 
fifteenth  century  ;  and  the  read-  cloak,  to  be  afterwards  thrown 
ing  of  Wycliffe's  translation  was  into  a  great  fire  kindled  in  Cheap- 
prohibited  under  penalty  of  ex-  side,  and  then  pay  to  the  king  a 
communication  and  death.    Tyn-  fine  which  should  ruin  him." 
dale's   translation   of   the   New 


10  FEARS   OF  THE  PRIESTS.  CHAP.  L 

Bible,  regardless  of  these  prohibitions — the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  Hebrew,  the  New  in  Greek,  and  both  in  Latin, 
German,  French,  and  other  modern  languages.  Finding 
that  the  reading  of  the  Bible  was  extending,  the  priests 
began  to  inveigh  against  the  practice  from  the  pulpit. 
"  They  have  now  found  out,"  said  a  French  monk,  "  a 
new  language  called  Greek ;  we  must  carefully  guard 
ourselves  against  it.  That  language  will  be  the  mother 
of  all  sorts  of  heresies.  I  see  in  the  hands  of  a  great 
number  of  persons  a  book  written  in  this  language, 
called  '  The  New  Testament ' ;  it  is  a  book  full  of 
brambles,  with  vipers  in  them.  As  to  the  Hebrew, 
whoever  learns  that  becomes  a  Jew  at  once."  1 

The  fears  of  the  priests  increased  as  they  saw  their 
flocks  becoming  more  intent  upon  reading  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  hearing  them  read,  than  attending  mass ;  and 
they  were  especially  concerned  at  the  growing  disposi- 
tion of  the  people  to  call  in  question  the  infallibility  of 
the  Church  and  the  sacred  character  of  the  priesthood. 
It  was  every  day  becoming  clearer  to  them  that  if  the 
people  were  permitted  to  resort  to  books,  and  pray  to 
God  .direct  in  their  vulgar  tongue,  instead  of  praying 
through  the  priests  in  Latin,  the  authority  of  the  mass 
would  fall,  and  the  Church  itself  would  be  endangered.2 


1  SlSMOKDl  —  Histoire       dcs  and  to  examine  how  far  religion 
Franqais,  xvi.  364.  is  departed  from   its   primitive 

2  Lord  Herbert,  in  his  Life  of  institution.      And    that,    which 
Henry  VII.  (p.  147),  says  that  Car-  particularly    was    most    to    be 
dinal  Wolsey  stated  the  effects  of  lamented,    they   hath    exhorted 
printing  to  the  pope  in  the  follow-  lay  and  ordinary  men  to  read 
ing  terms : — "  That  his  holiness  the  Scriptures,  and  to  pray  in 
could  not  be  ignorant  what  di-  their  vulgar  tongue ;  and  if  this 
verse  effects  the  new  invention  was   suffered,  besides   all  other 
of  printing  had  produced ;  for  it  dangers,  the  common  people  at 
had  brought  in  and  restored  books  last  might  come  to  believe  that 
and  learning ;  so  together  it  hath  there  was  not  so  much  use  of  the 
been  the  occasion  of  those  sects  clergy.     For  if  men  were   per- 
and  schisms  which  daily  appear  suaded    once   they  could   make 
in  the  world,  but  especially  in  their  own  way  to  God,  and  that 
Germany ;  where  men  begin  now  prayers  in  their  native  and  or- 
to  call  in  question  the  present  dinary    language    might    pierce 
faith  and  tenets  of  the  Church,  heaven  as  well  as  Latin,  how 


CHAP.  I.          PUBLICATION  OF  THE  BIBLE.  11 

A  most  forcible  expression  was  given  to  this  view  by 
the  Vicar  of  Croydon  in  a  sermon  preached  by  him 
at  Paul's  Cross,  in  which  he  boldly  declared  that 
"  we  must  root  out  printing,  or  printing  will  root  out 
us." 

But  printing  could  not  be  rooted  out,  any  more  than 
the  hand  of  Time  could  be  put  back.  This  invention, 
unlike  every  other,  contained  within  itself  a  self-pre- 
serving power  which  ensured  its  perpetuation.  Its 
method  had  become  known,  and  was  recorded  by  itself. 
Printed  books  were  now  part  of  the  inheritance  of  the 
human  race;  and  though  Bibles  might  lie  burnt, — as 
vast  numbers  of  them  were,  so  that  they  might  be  kept 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  people, — so  long  as  a  single  copy 
remained,  it  was  not  lost,  but  was  capable  of  immediate 
restoration  and  of  infinite  multiplication. 

The  intense  interest  which  the  publication  of  the  Bible 
excited,  and  the  emotion  which  it  raised  in  the  minds 
of  those  who  read  it,  are  matters  of  history.  At  this 
day,  when  Bibles  are  common  in  almost  every  house- 
hold, it  is  perhaps  difficult  to  appreciate  the  deep  feel- 
ings of  awe  and  reverence  with  which  men  for  the  first 
time  perused  the  sacred  volume.  We  have  become  so 
familiar  with  it,  that  we  are  apt  to  look  upon  it  merely 
as  one  amongst  many  books, — as  part  of  the  current 
literature  of  the  day,  or  as  a  record  of  ancient  history, 
to  be  checked  off"  by  the  arithmetician  or  analysed 
by  the  critic. 

It  was  far  different  in  those  early  times,  when  the 
Bible  was  rare  and  precious.  Printing  had  brought 
forth  the  Book,  which  had  lain  so  long  silent  in  manu- 
script beneath  the  dust  of  old  libraries,  and  laid  it 
before  the  people,  to  be  read  by  them  in  their  own 
tongue.  It  was  known  to  be  the  charter  and  title-deed 


much  would  the  authority  of  the  troducing  all  persons  to  dispute, 

mass    fall !      For  this  purpose,  to  suspend  the  laity  between  fear 

sir.ce  printing  could  not  be  put  and  controversy.     This  at  most 

down,  it  was  best  to  set  up  learn-  would  make  them  attentive  tb 

ir£  against  learning ;  and  by  in-  their  superiors  and  teachers." 


12  READING   OF  THE  BIBLE.  CHAP.i. 

of  Christianity — the  revelation  of  God's  will  to  man  ; 
and  now,  to  read  it,  or  hear  it  read,  was  like  meeting 
God  face  to  face,  and  listening  to  His  voice  speaking 
directly  to  them. 

At  first  it  could  only  be  read  to  the  people  ;  and  in 
the  English  cathedrals,  where  single  copies  were  placed, 
chained  to  a  niche,  eager  groups  gathered  round  to 
drink  in  its  living  truths.  But  as  the  art  of  printing 
improved,  and  copies  of  the  Bible  became  multiplied 
in  portable  forms,  it  could  then  be  taken  home  into  the 
study  or  the  chamber,  and  read  and  studied  in  secret. 
It  was  found  to  be  an  ever-fresh  gushing  spring  of 
thought,  welling  up,  as  it  were,  from  the  Infinite.  No 
wonder  that  men  pondered  over  it  with  reverence,  and 
read  it  with  thanksgiving  !  No  wonder  that  it  moved 
their  hearts,  influenced  their  thoughts,  gave  a  colour 
to  their  familiar  speech,  and  imparted  a  bias  to  their 
whole  life  I1 

To  the  thoughtful,  the  perusal  of  the  Bible  gave 
new  views  of  life  and  death.  Its  effect  was  to  make 
those  who  pondered  its  lessons  more  solemn ;  it  made 
the  serious  more  earnest,  and  impressed  them  with  a 
deeper  sense  of  responsibility  and  duty.  To  the  poor, 
the  suffering,  and  the  struggling,  it  was  the  aurora  of 
a  new  world.  With  this  Book  in  their  hands,  what  to 
them  were  the  afflictions  of  time,  which  were  but  for  a 
moment,  working  out  for  them  "  a  far  more  exceeding 
and  eternal  weight  of  glory"  ? 

It  was  the  accidental  sight  of  a  copy  of  one  of 
Gutenberg's  Bibles  in  the  library  of  the  convent  of 
Erfurt,  where  Luther  was  in  training  for  a  monk,  that 

1  The  perusal  and  study  of  the  to  all  who  studied  it  closely.   This 

Bible  in  the  fifteenth  and  six-  tendency  is  noticeable  in  the  early 

teenth  centuries  exercised  an  im-  English    writers  —  in    Latimer, 

portant  influence  on  literature  in  Bradford.  Jewell,  More,  Brown, 

all  countries.     The  great  writers  Bacon,  Milton,  and  others.    Cole- 

of    the     period     unconsciously  ridge  has  said,  "  Intense  study  of 

adopted  Bible  phraseology  to  a  the  Bible  will  keep   any  writer 

large    extent — the    thoughts    of  from  being  vulgar  in    point   ol 

Scripture  clothing  themselves  in  style." 
language  which  became  habitual 


CHAP.  l.  LUTHER  AND  THE  BIBLE.  13 

fixed  his  destiny  for  life.1  He  opened  it,  and  read  with 
inexpressible  delight  the  history  of  Hannah  and  her 
son  Samuel.  "  0  God  !  "  he  murmured,  '4  could  I  but 
have  one  of  these  books,  I  would  ask  no  other  treasure  !" 
A  great  revolution  forthwith  took  place  in  his  soul. 
He  read,  and  studied,  and  meditated,  until  he  fell 
seriously  ill.  Dr.  Staupitz,  a  man  of  rank  in  the 
Church,  was  then  inspecting  the  convent  at  Erfurt,  in 
which  Luther  had  been  for  two  years.  He  felt  power- 
fully attracted  towards  the  young  monk,  and  had  much 
confidential  intercourse  with  him.  Before  leaving, 
Staupitz  presented  Luther  with  a  copy  of  the  Bible — 
a  Bible  all  to  himself,  which  he  could  take  with  him 
to  his  cell  and  study  there.  "  For  several  years,"  said 
Luther  afterwards,  "  I  read  the  whole  Bible  twice  in 
every  twelvemonth.  It  is  a  great  and  powerful  tree, 
each  word  of  which  is  a  mighty  branch ;  each  of  these 
branches  have  I  shaken,  so  desirous  was  I  to  learn 
what  fruit  they  every  one  of  them  bore,  and  what  they 
could  give  me."  2 

This  Bible  of  Luther's  was,  however,  in  the  Latin 
Vulgate,  a  language  known  only  to  the  learned.  Several 
translations  had  been  printed  in  Germany  by  the  end 
of  the  fifteenth  century  ;  but  they  were  unsatisfactory 
versions,  unsuited  for  popular  reading,  and  were  com- 
paratively little  known.  One  of  Luther's  first  thoughts, 
therefore,  was  to  translate  the  Bible  into  the  popular 
speech,  so  that  the  people  at  large  might  have  free 
access  to  the  unparalleled  Book.  Accordingly,  in  1521, 
he  began  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  during 

1  "I  was  twenty  years  old,"  again:  "Dr.  Usinger.  an  Augustan 

said  Luther,  "  before  I  had  ever  monk,  who  was  my  preceptor  at 

seen  the  Bible.     I  had  no  notion  the  convent  of  Erfurt,  used  to  say 

that  there  existed  any  other  Gos-  to  me, '  Ah,  brother  Martin  !  why 

pels  or  Epistles  than  those  in  the  trouble  yourself  with  the  Bible  ? 

service.    At  last  I  came  across  a  Bather  read  the  ancient  doctors 

Bible  in  the  library  at  Erfurt,  who  have  collected  for  you  all 

and  used  often  to  read  it  to  Dr.  its  marrow  and  honey.    The  Bible 

Staupitz  with  still  increasing  won-  itself    is  the    cause  of   all    our 

der. "— TISCHREDEN— Table  Talk,  troubles.' " — TISCHREDEN.  p.  7. 
(Frankfort,  1568),  p.  255.     And          2  TlSCHREDEN,  p.  311. 


U  LUTHER'S  WRITINGS.  CHAP.  1 


his  imprisonment  in  what  he  called  his  Patmos — the 
•castle  of  Wartburg.  It  was  completed  and  published 
in  the  following  year;  and  two  years  later,  his  Old 
Testament  appeared. 

None  valued  more  than  Luther  did,  the  invention 
of  printing.  "  Printing,"  said  he,  "  is  the  latest  and 
greatest  gift  by  which  God  enables  us  to  advance  the 
things  of  the  Gospel."  Printing  was,  indeed,  one  of  the 
prime  agents  of  the  Reformation.  The  ideas  had  long 
been  bom,  but  printing  gave  them  wings.  Had  the 
writings  of  Luther  and  his  fellow-labourers  been  con- 
fined only  to  such  copies  as  could  have  been  made  by 
hand,  they  would  have  remained  few  in  number,  been 
extremely  limited  in  their  effects,  and  could  easily  have 
been  suppressed  and  destroyed  by  authority.  But  the 
printing-press  enabled  them  to  circulate  by  thousands 
all  over  Germany.1  Luther  was  the  especial  favourite 
of  the  printers  and  booksellers.  The  former  took  pride 
in  bringing  out  his  books  with  minute  care,  and  the 
latter  in  circulating  them.  A  large  body  of  ex-monks 
lived  by  travelling  about  and  selling  them  all  over 
Germany.  His  books  were  also  carried  abroad, — into 
Switzerland,  Bohemia,  France,  and  England.2 

The  printing  of  the  Bible  was  also  carried  on  with 
great  activity  in  the  Low  Countries.  Besides  versions 
in  French  and  Flemish  for  the  use  of  the  people  in  the 
Walloon  provinces,  where  the  new  views  extensively 

1  At  Nuremberg,  at  Strasburg,  ductions,  he  sang,  in  under-tones, 

even  at  Mentz,  there  was  a  con-  ''The  Nightingale  of  Wittenberg," 

stant  struggle  for  Luther'a  last  and  the  song  was  taken  up  and 

pamphlets.     The  sheet,  yet  wet,  resounded  all  over  the  land.— 

was  brought  from  the  press  under  MICHELET — Life  of  Luther,  pp. 

some  one's  cloak,  and  passed  from  70,  71 . 

shop  to  shop.  The  pedantic  2  Works  printed  in  Germany  or 
bookmen  of  the  German  trades'  in  the  Flemish  provinces,  where 
unions,  the  poetical  tinmen,  the  at  first  the  administration  con- 
literary  shoemakers,  devoured  the  nived  at  the  new  religion,  were 
good  news.  Worthy  Hans  Sachs  imported  into  England,  and  read 
raised  himself  above  his  wonted  with  that  eagerness  and  delight 
commonplace  ;  he  left  his  shoe  which  always  compensate  the 
half-made,  and  with  his  most  risk  of  forbidden  studies. — RAL- 
high-flown  verses,  his  best  pro-  LAM— Hist,  of  England,  i.  p.  82. 


CHAP.  1.         DEMAND  FOR  THE  SCRIPTURES.  16 

prevailed,  various  versions  in  foreign  tongues  were 
printed  for  exportation  abroad.  Thus  Tyndale,  unable 
to  get  his  New  Testament  printed  in  England,  where 
its  perusal  was  forbidden,  had  tbe  first  edition  printed 
at  Antwerp  in  1526,1  as  well  as  IT/TO  subsequent  editions 
at  the  same  place.  Indeed,  Antwerp  seems  at  that  time 
to  have  been  the  head-quarters  of  Bible-printing.  No 
fewer  than  thirteen  editions  of  the  Bible  and  twenty- 
four  editions  of  the  New  Testament,  in  the  Flemish  or 
Dutch  language,  were  printed  there  within  the  first 
thirty-six  years  of  the  sixteenth  century,  besides 
various  other  editions  in  English,  French,  Danish,  and 
Spanish.2 

An  eager  demand  for  the  Scriptures  had  by  this  time 
sprung  up  in  France.  Several  translations  of  portions 
of  the  Bible  appeared  there  towards  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century ;  but  these  were  all  superseded  by  a 
version  of  the  entire  Scriptures,  printed  at  Antwerp 
in  successive  portions,  between  the  years  1512  and 
1530.  This  translation  was  the  work  of  Jacques  le 

1  A  complete  edition  of  the  tion  directing  a  large  Bible  to  be 
Enprlish  Bible,  translated  partly  set  up  in  every  parish-church, 
by  Tyndale  and  partly  by  Cover-  while  at  the  same  time  Bibles 
dale,  was  printed  at  Hamburg  in  were  authorised  to  be  publicly 
1535;  and  a  second  edition,  edited  sold.  The  Spencer  collection 
by  John  Rogers,  under  the  name  contains  copies  of  fifteen  English 
of  "  Thomas  Matthew,"  was  editions  of  the  Bible  printed  be- 
printed  at  Marlborow  in  Hesse,  tween  1536  and  1581 ;  showing 
in  1537.  Tyndale  suffered  mar-  that  the  printing-press  was  by 
tyrdom  at  Vilvorde,  near  Brus-  that  time  actively  at  work  in 
sels.  in  1536,  yet  he  died  in  the  England.  Wycliffe's  translation, 
midst  of  victory ;  for  before  his  though  made  in  1380,  was  not 
death  no  fewer  than  fourteen  printed  until  1731. 
editions  of  the  New  Testament,  *  "  There  can  be  no  sort  of 
several  of  them  of  two  thousand  comparison,"  says  Mr.  Hallam, 
copies  each,  had  been  printed ;  "  between  the  number  of  these 
and  at  the  very  time  when  he  died,  editions,  and  consequently  the 
the  first  edition  of  the  Scriptures  eagerness  of  the  people  of  the 
printed  in  England  was  passing  Low  Countries  for  biblical  know- 
through  the  press.  Cranmer's  ledge,  considering  the  limited  ex- 
Bible,  so  called  because  revised  tent  of  their  language,  and  any- 
by  Cranmer,  was  published  in  thing  that  could  be  found  in  the 
1539-40.  In  the  year  1542,  Protestant  states  of  the  empire." 
Henry  VIII.  issued  a  proclania-  —Literary  JUatory,  i.  387. 


16  THE  REFORMATION  IX  FRAXCE.        CHAP.  I. 

Fevre  or  Faber,  of  Etaples,  and  it  formed  the  basis  of 
all  subsequent  editions  of  the  French  Bible. 

The  effects  were  the  same  wherever  the  Book  ap- 
peared, and  was  freely  read  by  the  people.  It  was 
followed  by  an  immediate  reaction  against  the  super- 
stition, indifferentism,  and  impiety,  which  generally 
prevailed.  There  was  a  sudden  awakening  to  a  new 
religious  life,  and  an  anxious  desire  for  a  purer  faith, — 
less  overlaid  by  the  traditions,  inventions,  and  corrup- 
tions, which  impaired  the  efficacy,  and  obscured  the 
simple  beauty,  of  Christianity.  The  invention  of 
printing  had  also  its  political  effects.  For  men  to  be 
able  to  read  books,  and  especially  the  Scriptures,  in 
the  common  tongue,  was  itself  a  revolution.  It  roused 
the  hearts  of  the  people  in  all  lands,  producing  com- 
motion, excitement,  and  agitation.  Society  became 
electric,  and  was  stirred  to  its  depths.  The  sentiment 
of  Right  was  created,  and  the  long  down-trodden 
peasants — along  the  Rhine,  in  Alsace,  and  Suabia — 
raised  their  cries  on  all  sides,  demanding  freedom  from 
serfdom,  and  to  be  recognised  as  Men.  Indeed,  this 
electric  fervour  and  vehement  excitement  throughout 
society  was  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  that  Luther 
had  to  contend  with,  in  guiding  the  Reformation  in 
Germany  to  a  successful  issue. 

The  ecclesiastical  abuses,  which  had  first  evoked  the 
indignation  of  Luther,  were  not  confined  to  Germany, 
but  prevailed  all  over  Europe.  There  were  Tetzels 
also  in  France,  where  indulgences  were  things  of  com- 
mon traffic.  Money  had  to  be  raised  by  the  Church ; 
for  the  building  of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  must  be  paid  for. 
Each  sin  had  its  price,  each  vice  its  tax.  There  was  a 
regular  tariff  for  peccadilloes  of  every  degree,  up  to  the 
greatest  crimes.  The  Bible,  it  need  scarcely  be  said, 
was  at  open  war  with  this  monstrous  state  of  things ; 
and  the  more  extensively  it  was  read  and  its  precepts 
became  known,  the  more  strongly  were  these  practices 
condemned.  Hence  the  alarm  occasioned  at  Rome  by 
the  rapid  extension  of  the  art  of  printing  and  the 


CHAP.  I.  JACQUES  LEFEVRE.  17 

increasing  circulation  of  the  Bible.  Hence  also  the 
prohibition  of  printing  vv'hich  shortly  followed,  and  the 
burning  of  the  printers  who  printed  the  Scriptures,  as 
well  as  of  the  persons  who  were  found  guilty  of  read- 
ing them. 

The  first  signs  of  the  Reformation  in  France  showed 
themselves  in  the  town  of  Meaux,  about  fifty  miles 
north-east  of  Paris — not  far  distant  from  the  then 
Flemish  frontier.  It  was  a  place  full  of  working- 
people — mechanics,  wool-carders,  fullers,  cloth-makers, 
and  artizans.  Their  proximity  to  Flanders,  and  the 
similarity  of  their  trade  to  that  of  the  larger  Flemish 
towns,  occasioned  a  degree  of  intercourse  between 
them,  which  doubtless  contributed  to  the  propagation 
of  the  new  views  at  Meaux,  where  the  hearts  of  the 
poor  artizans  were  greatly  moved  by  the  tidings  of 
the  Gospel  which  reached  them  from  the  north. 

At  the  same  time  men  of  learning  in  the  Church  had 
long  been  meditating  over  the  abuses  which  prevailed 
in  it,  and  devising  the  best  means  of  remedying  them. 
Among  the  most  earnest  of  these  was  Jacques  Lefevre, 
a  native  of  Etaples  in  Picardy.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
and  acknowledged  learning,  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished professors  in  the  university  of  Paris.  The 
study  of  the  Bible  produced  the  same  effect  upon  his 
mind  as  it  had  done  on  that  of  Luther  ;  but  he  was 
a  man  of  far  different  temperament, — gentle,  retiring, 
and  timid,  though  not  less  devoted  to  the  cause  of 
truth.  He  was,  however,  an  old  man  of  seventy.  His 
life  was  fast  fleeting ;  but  yet  there  was  a  world  lying 
all  in  wickedness  about  him.  He  translated  the  four 
Gospels  into  French  in  1523;  had  them  printed  at 
Antwerp ;  and  put  them  into  circulation.  He  found 
a  faithful  follower  in  Guillaume  Farel — a  young, 
energetic,  and  active  man, — who  abounded  in  those 
qualities  in  which  the  aged  Lefevre  was  so  deficient. 
Another  coadjutor  shortly  joined  them — Guillaume 
Bric.ormet,  Count  of  Montbrun  and  Bishop  of  Meaux, 
who  also  became  a  convert  to  the  new  doctrines. 


18  THE  BISHOP  OF  ME  A  UX.  CTTATM. 

The  bishop,  on  taking  charge  of  his  diocese,  had 
been  shocked  by  the  disorders  which  prevailed  there, — 
by  the  licentiousness  of  the  clergy,  and  their  general 
disregard  for  religious  life  and  duty.  As  many  of  them 
were  non-resident,  he  invited  Lefevre,  Farel,  and  others, 
to  occupy  their  pulpits  and  preach  to  the  people — the 
bishop  preaching  in  his  turn ;  and  the  people  flocked 
to  hear  them.  The  bishop  also  distributed  the  four 
Gospels  gratuitously  among  the  poor,  and  very  soon  a 
copy  was  to  be  found  in  almost  every  workshop  in 
Meaux.  A  reformation  of  manners  shortly  followed. 
Blasphemy,  drunkenness,  and  disorder  disappeared; 
and  the  movement  spread  far  and  near. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  sup- 
porters of  the  old  Church  were  indifferent  to  these 
proceedings.  At  first  they  had  been  stunned  by  the 
sudden  spread  of  the  new  views  and  the  rapid  increase 
of  the  "  Gospellers,"  as  they  were  called  throughout  the 
northern  provinces;  but  they  speedily  rallied  from 
their  stupor.  They  knew  that  power  was  on  their 
side, — the  power  of  kings  and  parliaments,  and  their 
agents;  and  they  loudly  called  them  to  their  help, 
to  prevent  the  spread  of  heresy.  At  the  same  time, 
Rome,  roused  by  her  danger,  availed  herself  of  all 
methods  for  winning  back  her  wandering  children,  by 
force  if  not  by  suasion.  The  Inquisition  was  armed 
with  new  powers ;  and  wherever  heresy  appeared,  it 
was  crushed,  unsparingly,  unpityingly.  No  matter 
what  the  rank  or  learning  of  the  suspected  heretic 
might  be,  he  must  satisfy  the  tribunal  before  which  he 
was  brought,  or  die  at  the  stake. 

The  priests  and  monks  of  Meaux,  though  mostly 
absentees,  finding  their  revenues  diminishing,  appealed 
for  help  to  the  Sorbonne,  the  Faculty  of  Theology  at 
Paris ;  and  the  Sorbonne  called  upon  parliament  at  once 
to  interpose  with  a  strong  hand.  The  result  was,  that 
the  Bishop  of  Meaux  was  heavily  fined ;  and  he  shrank 
thenceforward  out  of  sight,  and  ceased  to  give  any 
further  cause  for  offence.  But  his  disciples  were  less 


CHAP.  I.  SURGING  OF  PRINTERS.  19 

pliant,  and  continued  boldly  to  preach  the  Gospel. 
Jean  Leclerc  was  burnt  alive  at  Metz,  and  Jacques 
Pavent  and  Louis  de  Berguin  on  the  Place  de  Greve 
at  Paris.  Farel  escaped  into  Switzerland,  and  there 
occupied  himself  in  printing  copies  of  Lefevre's  New 
Testament,  thousands  of  which  he  caused  to  be  dis- 
seminated throughout  France  by  the  hands  of  pedlars. 

The  Sorbonne  then  proceeded  to  make  war  against 
books,  and  the  printers  of  books.  Bibles  and  New 
Testaments  were  seized  and  burnt.  But  more  Bibles 
and  Testaments  seemed  to  rise,  as  if  by  magic,  from 
their  ashes.  The  printers  who  were  convicted  of 
printing  Bibles  were  next  seized  and  burnt.  The 
Bourgeois  de  Paris1  gives  a  detailed  account  of  the 
human  sacrifices  offered  up  to  ignorance  and  intoler- 
ance in  that  city  during  the  six  months  ending  June 
1534,  from  which  it  appears  that  twenty  men  and  one 
woman  were  burnt  alive.  One  was  a  printer  of  the 
Rue  St.  Jacques,  found  guilty  of  having  "  printed  the 
books  of  Luther."  Another,  a  bookseller,  was  burnt 
for  "  having  sold  Luther."  In  the  beginning  of  the 
following  year,  the  Sorbonne  obtained  from  the  King 
an  ordinance,  which  was  promulgated  on  the  26th  of 
February  1535,  for  the  suppression  of  printing  ! 

It  was  too  late !  The  art  was  now  full  born,  and 
could  no  more  be  suppressed  than  light,  or  air,  or  life. 
Books  had  become  a  public  necessity  ;  they  supplied 
a  great  public  want ;  and  eve'ry  year  saw  them  multi- 
plying more  abundantly.2 

1  MICHELET  says  the  Sour-  volumes  had  been  printed,  the 

geois  de  Paris  (Paris,  1854)  was  greater  part  in  folio ;  and  that 

not  the  publication  of  a  Protes-  between  1500  and  1536  eighteen 

tant,  which  might  be  called  in  more  millions  of  volumes  had 

question,  but  of  a  "  very  zealous  been  printed.  After  that  it  is 

Catholic." — Histoire  de  France  impossible  to  number  them.  In 

au  Scizi&me  Sibcle,  viii.,p.  411.  1533  there  had  already  been 

eighteen  editions  of  the  German 

*  It  has  been  calculated  (by  Bible  printed  at  Wittemberg, 

Daunon,  Petit,  Rudel,  Taillandier,  thirteen  at  Augsburg,  thirteen  at 

and  others)  that  by  the  end  of  the  Strasburg,  twelve  at  Basle,  and 

fifteenth  century  four  millions  of  BO  on.  Schceffer,  in  his  Influence 


20  ORIGIN  OF  " HUGUENOT."  CHAP.  L 

The  same  scenes  were  enacted  all  over  France, 
wherever  the  Bible  had  penetrated  and  found  followers. 
In  1545,  the  massacre  of  the  Vaudois  of  Provence  was 
perpetrated,  accompanied  by  horrors  which  it  is  im- 
possible to  describe.  This  terrible  persecution,  how- 
ever, did  not  produce  its  intended  effect ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  was  followed  by  a  strong  reaction  in  the 
public  mind  against  the  fury  of  the  persecutors.  The 
king,  Francis  I.,  complained  that  his  orders  had  been 
exceeded ;  but  he  was  sick  and  almost  dying  at  the 
time,  and  had  not  the  strength  to  prosecute  the 
assassins. 

There  was,  however,  a  lull  for  a  time  in  the  violence 
of  the  persecutions,  during  which  the  new  views  made 
rapid  progress ;  and  men  of  rank,  of  learning,  and  ot 
arms,  ranged  themselves  on  the  side  of  "The  Religion." 
Then  arose  the  Huguenots  or  French  Protestants,1  who 
shortly  became  so  numerous  as  to  constitute  a  con- 
siderable power  in  the  state,  and  to  exercise,  during 
the  next  hundred  years,  a  most  important  influence  on 
the  political  history  of  France. 

The  origin  of  the  term  Huguenot  is  extremely 
obscure.  It  was  at  first  applied  to  them  as  a  nick- 
name ;  and,  like  the  Gueux  of  Flanders,  they  assumed 
and  bore  it  with  pride.  Some  suppose  the  term  to 
be  derived  from  Huguon,  a  word  used  in  Touraine  to 
signify  persons  who  walk  at  nights  in  the  streets, — the 
early  Protestants,  like  the  early  Christians,  having 
chosen  that  time  for  their  religious  assemblies.  Others 
are  of  opinion  that  it  was  derived  from  a  French  and 
faulty  pronunciation  of  the  German  word  Eidgenossen, 

of  Luther  on  Education,  says  tha^  being  based  on  the  reading  of  the 

Luther's  Catechism  soon  ran  to  Gospel).  Religionaries,  or  Those 

100,000  copies.  Printing  was  at  of  the  Religion.  The  name  Pro- 

the  same  time  making  rapid  testant  was  not  applied  to  them 

strides  in  France,  England,  and  until  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 

he  Low  Countries.  century — that     term    originally 

1  The   followers    of    the  new  characterising    the  disciples    of 

views  called  themselves  at  first  the    Lutheran    Befonnation    in 

Gospellers  (from  their  religion  Germany. 


CHAP.  1.          FIRST  IXDEX  EXPURGATORIV8.  21 

or  confederates  —  the  name  given  to  those  citizens  of 
Geneva  who  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the  Swiss 
cantons  to  resist  the  attempts  of  Charles  III.,  Duke 
of  Savoy,  against  their  liberties.  The  confederates 
were  called  Eiynots  ;  and  hence,  probably,  the  deriva- 
tion of  the  word  Huguenots.  A  third  surmise  is,  that 
the  word  was  derived  from  one  Hugues,  the  name  of  a 
Genevese  Calvinist.1 

Further  attempts  continued  to  be  made  by  Home  to 
check  the  progress  of  printing.  In  1599,  Pope  Paul  IV. 
issued  the  first  Index  Expurgatorius,  containing  a  list 
of  the  books  expressly  prohibited  by  the  Church.  It 
included  all  Bibles  printed  in  modern  languages  —  of 
which  forty-eight  editions  were  enumerated  ;  while 
sixty-one  printers  were  put  under  a  general  ban,  and 
all  works  of  every  description  issuing  from  their  presses 
were  forbidden.  Notwithstanding,  however,  these  and 
similar  measures  —  such  as  the  wholesale  burning  of 
Bibles  wherever  found  —  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures 
rapidly  increased,  and  the  principles  of  the  Reformation 
prevailed  more  and  more  throughout  the  northern 
nations. 


N,  in  his  Etyrrwlogteche  it  was  originally  used  as  a  nick- 

Untersuchungen  avfdem  Gebiete  name,  and  derived  from  the  word 

der  Romanischen  Sprachen,  gives  Hughues  —  '•  the  name    of   some 

no  fewer  than  fifteen  supposed  heretic  or  conspirator  "  —  and  the 

derivations  of  the  word  Huguenot,  French  diminutive  ot  —  as  Jacot, 

but  inclines  to  the  opinion  that  Margot,  Jeannot,  etc. 


CHAPTER  II. 

EPISODE  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  PALISSY. 

AT  the  time  when  the  remarkable  movement  we  have 
rapidly  sketched,  was  sweeping  round  the  frontiers  of 
France,  from  Switzerland  to  Brabant — and  men  were 
everywhere  listening  with  eagerness  to  the  promulga- 
tion of  the  new  ideas, — there  was  wandering  along  the 
Rhine  a  poor  artizan,  then  obscure,  but  afterwards 
famous,  who  was  seeking  to  earn  a  living  by  the 
practice  of  his  trade.  He  could  glaze  windows,  mend 
furniture,  paint  a  little  on  glass,  draw  portraits  rudely, 
gild  and  colour  images  of  the  Virgin,  or  do  any  sort  of 
work  requiring  handiness  and  dexterity.  On  an  emer- 
gency he  would  even  undertake  to  measure  land,  and 
was  ready  to  turn  his  hand  to  anything  that  might 
enable  him  to  earn  a  living,  and  at  the  same  time  add 
to  his  knowledge  and  experience.  This  wandering 
workman  was  no  other  than  Bernard  Palissy, — after- 
wards the  natural  philosopher,  the  chemist,  the  geologist, 
and  the  artist, — but  more  generally  known  as  the  great 
Potter. 

Fortunately  for  our  present  purpose,  Palissy  was 
also  an  author ;  and  though  the  works  he  left  behind 
him  are  written  in  a  quaint  and  simple  style,  it  is  pos- 
sible to  obtain  from  certain  passages  in  them  a  more 
vivid  idea  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  and  of  the 
trials  and  sufferings  of  the  Gospellers,  of  whom  he  was 
one  of  the  most  illustrious,  than  from  any  other  con- 
temporary record.  The  life  of  Palissy,  too,  is  eminently 
illustrative  of  his  epoch ;  and  provided  we  can  but 
accurately  portray  the  life  of  any  single  man  in  rela- 


CHAf.  11.          PALlSSrS  "  WAXtoERSCtlAFT."  23 

tion  to  his  epoch,  then  biography  becomes  history  in  its 
truest  sense  ;  for  history,  after  all,  is  but  accumulated 
biography. 

From  the  writings  of  Palissy,1  then,  we  gather  the 
following  facts  regarding  this  remarkable  man's  life 
and  career.  He  was  born  about  the  year  1510,  at  La 
Chapelle  Biron,  a  poor  village  in  Perigord,  where  his 
father  brought  him  up  to  his  own  trade  of  a  glazier. 
The  boy  was  by  nature  quick  and  ingenious,  with  a 
taste  for  drawing,  designing,  and  decoration,  which  he 
turned  to  account  in  painting  glass  and  decorating 
images  for  the  village  churches  in  his  immediate 
neighbourhood.  Desirous  of  improving  himself,  at 
the  same  time  that  he  earned  his  living,  he  resolved 
to  travel  into  other  districts  and  countries,  accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  skilled  workmen  in  those  days. 
Accordingly,  so  soon  as  his  term  of  apprenticeship  had 
expired,  he  set  out  upon  his  "  wanderschaft,"  at  about 
the  age  of  twenty-one.  He  first  went  into  the  country 
adjacent  to  the  Pyrenees ;  and  his  journeyings  in  those 
mountain  districts  awoke  in  his  mind  that  love  for 
geology  and  natural  history  which  he  afterwards  pur- 
sued with  so  much  zeal.  After  settling  for  a  time  at 
Tarbes,  in  the  High  Pyrenees,  he  proceeded  northward, 
through  Languedoc,  Dauphiny,  part  of  Switzerland, 
Alsace,  the  Duchies  of  Cleves  and  Luxemburg,  and 
the  provinces  of  the  Lower  Rhine,  to  Ardennes  and 
Flanders. 

It  will  be  observed  that  Palissy's  line  of  travel  lay 
precisely  through  the  provinces  in  which  the  people 
had  been  most  deeply  moved  by  the  recent  revolt  of 
Luther  from  Rome.  In  1517  the  Reformer  had  pub- 
licly denounced  the  open  sale  of  indulgences  by  "  the 
profligate  monk  Tetzel,"  and  affixed  his  celebrated 
ninety-five  Theses  to  the  outer  pillars  of  the  cathedral 

1  (Emrcs  Completes  de  Bernard  notes  et  une  Notice  Historiqne, 

Palissy,  Edition   conforme    aux  Par  PAUL-AXTOINE  CAP,  Paris, 

textes    originaux    imprime.s    da  1844. 
vivant    de    1'auteur ;    avec    des 


24    PALISSY  TRAVELS  THROUGH  GERMANY.    CHAP.  n. 

of  Wittemberg.1  The  propositions  were  at  once  printed 
in  thousands,  read,  devoured,  and  spread  abroad  in 
every  direction.  In  1518,  Luther  appeared,  under  the 
safe-conduct  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  before  the  Pope's 
legate  at  Augsburg ;  and  in  1520  he  publicly  burnt  the 
Pope's  bull  at  Wittemberg,  amidst  the  acclamations 
of  the  people.  Ah1  Germany  was  now  in  a  blaze, 
and  Luther's  books  and  pamphlets  were  everywhere 
in  demand.  It  was  shortly  after  this,  that  Palissy 
travelled  through  the  excited  provinces.  Wherever  he 
went  he  heard  of  "  Luther,"  "  the  Bible,"  and  the  New 
Revelation  which  the  latter  volume  had  brought  to 
light.  The  men  of  his  own  class,  with  whom  he  most 
freely  mixed  in  the  course  of  his  travels — artists, 
mechanics,  and  artizans  3 — were  full  of  the  new  ideas 
which  were  stirring  the  heart  of  Germany.  These 
were  embraced  with  especial  fervour  by  the  young 
and  the  energetic.  Minds  formed  and  grown  old  in 
the  established  modes  of  thought,  were  unwilling  to  be 
disturbed,  and  satisfied  to  rest  as  they  were.  "  Too  old 
for  change  "  was  their  maxim.  But  it  was  different 
with  the  young,  the  ardent,  and  the  inquiring — who 
looked  before  rather  than  behind,  to  the  future  rathei 
than  the  past.  These  were,  for  the  most  part,  vehement 
in  support  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation. 

1  A  copy  of  the  Indulgence  of  the  ninety-five  Theses  against 
issued  by  Pope  Leo  X.  for  the  Indulgences  and  other  Papal 
rebuilding  of  St.  Peter's,  is  now  practices,  posted  by  Luther  on 
to  be  seen  in  the  King's  Library,  the  doors  of  the  church  of  Wit- 
British  Museum.  It  is  well  temberg,  on  the  31st  of  October, 
worthy  of  general  perusal.  1517.  It  is  also  close  to  Luther's 
The  Indulgence  was  printed  appeal  to  a  General  Council,  dated 
in  the  year  1517,  under  the  November,  1518. 
direction  of  Albert,  Archbishop 

of  Mentz  and  Magdeburg;  and  *  An  old  Roman  Catholic  his- 
it  was  sold  by  John  Tetzel  and  toriansays:  "Above  all,  painters. 
Bernardinus  Samson  as  sub-  watchmakers,  sculptors,  gold- 
commissaries.  The  manner  in  smiths,  booksellers,  printers,  and 
which  Tetzel  carried  on  the  others,  who  from  their  callings 
traffic  led,  everybody  knows,  to  have  some  nobility  of  mind,  v/ere 
the  remonstrance  of  Luther,  and  among  the  first  easily  surprised." 
the  Reformation.  It  is  placed  — REMOND — Histolre  de  V Here- 
close  to  the  original  printed  copy  tie  de  cc  Siecle,  book  vii.,  931. 


CHAP.  n.  PALISSY  READS  THE  BIBLE.  25 

Palissy  was  then  of  an  age  at  which  the  mind  is 
most  open  to  receive  new  impressions.  He  was,  more- 
over, by  nature  a  shrewd  observer  and  an  independent 
thinker ;  and  he  could  not  fail  to  be  influenced  by  the 
agitation  which  stirred  society  to  its  depths.  Among 
the  many  things  which  Palissy  learned  inNVthe  course 
of  his  travels,  was  the  art  of  reading  printed  books ; 
and  one  of  the  books  which  he  learned  to  read,  and 
most  prized,  was  the  printed  Bible,  the  greatest  marvel 
of  his  time.  It  was  necessarily  read  in  secret,  for  the 
ban  of  the  Church  was  still  upon  it;  but  the  prohibi- 
tion was  disregarded,  and  probably  gave  an  additional 
zest  to  the  study  of  the  forbidden  book.  Men  recognised 
each  other's  love  for  it  as  by  a  secret  sympathy  ;  and 
they  gathered  together  in  workshops  and  dwellings  to 
read  and  meditate  over  it,  and  exhort  one  another 
from  its  pages.  Among  these  was  Palissy,  who,  by  the 
time  he  was  thirty  years  old,  had  become  a  follower  of 
the  Gospel,  and  a  believer  in  the  religion  of  the  Open 
Bible.1 

Palissy  returned  to  France  in  1539,  at  a  time  when 
persecution  was  at  the  hottest;  when  printing  had  been 
suppressed  by  royal  edict ;  when  the  reading  of  the 
Bible  was  prohibited  on  pain  of  death;  and  when  many 
were  being  burnt  alive  for  reading  and  believing  it. 
The  persecution  especially  raged  in  Paris  and  the  neigh- 
bourhood,— which  may  account  for  Palissy's  avoid- 
ance of  the  city.  An  artist  so  skilled  as  he  was,  would 
naturally  have  desired  to  settle  there ;  but  he  passed 
it,  and  went  on  to  settle  at  Saintonge,  in  the  south- 

1  We  cannot  learn  from  Palissy's  esdits,   statuts  et  ordonnances : 

writings  what  his  creed  was.    He  et  en  regardant  quel  estoit  son 

never  once  mentions  the  names  vouloir,  j'ay  trouv6  que,  par  tes- 

of  either  Luther  or  Calvin  ;  but  tament  dernier,  il  a  oommande  a 

he  often  refers  to  the  "  teachings  ses  heritiers  qu'ils  eussent  a  man- 

of  the  Bible,"  and  "  the  statutes  ger  le  pain  au  labeur  de  leurs 

and  ordinances  of  God  as  revealed  corps,  et  qu'ils  eussent  a  multi- 

in  His  Word."  Here,  for  exam  pie,  plier  les  talens  qu'ils  leur  avoit 

is    a    characteristic    passage: —  laissez    par    son    testament." — 

"  Je  n'ay   trouve  rien   meilleur  JRecepte  Veritable,  1563. 
que  sume  le  conseil  de  Dieu,  ses 


26          PALISSTS  PURSUIT  OF  THE  ENAMEL.    CHAP.  It. 

western  corner  of  France.  There  he  married,  and  began 
to  pursue  his  manifold  callings, — more  particularly 
glass-painting,  portrait-painting,  and  land-measuring. 
He  had  a  long  and  hard  fight  for  life.  His  employment 
was  fitful,  and  he  was  often  reduced  to  great  straits. 
Some  years  after  his  settlement  at  Saintes,  while  still 
struggling  with  poverty,  chance  threw  in  his  way  an 
enamelled  cup  of  Italian  manufacture,  of  great  beauty, 
which  he  had  no  sooner  seen,  than  he  desired  to  imitate 
it ;  and  from  that  time,  the  determination  to  discover 
the  art  by  which  it  was  enamelled  possessed  him  like  a 
passion. 

The  story  of  Palissy's  heroic  ardour  in  prosecuting 
his  researches  in  connection  with  this  subject,  is  well 
known :  how  he  built  furnace  after  furnace,  and  made 
experiments  with  them  again  and  again,  only  to  end  in 
failure ;  how  he  was  all  the  while  studying  the  nature 
of  earths  and  clays,  and  learning  chemistry,  as  he  de- 
scribed it,  "  with  his  teeth  " ;  how  he  reduced  himself 
to  a  state  ef  the  most  distressing  poverty,  which  he 
endured  amidst  the  expostulations  of  his  friends,  the 
bitter  sarcasms  of  his  neighbours,  and,  what  was  still 
worse  to  bear,  the  reproaches  of  his  wife  and  children. 
But  he  was  borne  up  throughout  by  his  indomitable 
determination,  his  indefatigable  industry,  and  his  irre- 
pressible genius. 

On  one  occasion  he  sat  by  his  furnace  for  six  suc- 
cessive days  and  nights  without  changing  his  clothes. 
He  made  experiment  after  experiment,  and  still  the 
enamel  did  not  melt.  At  his  last  and  most  desperate 
experiment,  when  the  fuel  began  to  run  short,  he  rushed 
into  his  house,  seized  and  broke  up  sundry  articles 
of  furniture,  and  hurled  them  into  the  furnace  to  keep 
up  the  heat.  No  wonder  that  his  wife  and  children, 
as  well  as  his  neighbours,  thought  the  man  had  gone 
mad.  But  he  himself  was  in  a  measure  compensated 
by  the  fact  that  the  last  great  burst  of  heat  had  melted 
the  enamel ;  for  when  the  common  clay  jars,  which 
had  been  put  in  brown,  were  taken  out  after  the 


CHAP.  it.    PALISSY'S  TROUBLES  AND  SUFFERINGS.     27 

furnace  had  cooled,  they  were  found  covered  with  the 
white  glaze  of  which  he  had  been  so  loug  and  so 
furiously  in  search.  By  this  time,  however,  he  had 
become  reduced  to  a  state  of  the  greatest  poverty. 
He  had  stripped  his  dwelling,  he  had  beggared  him- 
self, and  his  children  wanted  food.  "  I  was  in  debt," 
said  he,  "  at  many  places,  and  when  two  children  were 
at  nurse,  I  was  unable  to  pay  the  nurse's  wages.  No 
one  helped  me.  On  the  contrary,  people  mocked  me, 
saying,  '  He  will  rather  let  his  children  die  of  hunger 
than  mind  his  own  business.' "  Others  said  of  him 
that  he  was  "  seeking  to  make  false  money."  These 
jeerings  of  the  townsfolk  reached  his  ears  as  he  passed 
along  the  streets  of  Saintes,  and  cut  him  to  the 
heart. 

Like  Brindley  the  engineer,  Palissy  betook  himself 
to  bed  to  meditate  upon  his  troubles  and  study  how 
to  find  a  way  out  of  them.  "  When  I  had  lain  for 
some  time  in  bed,"  says  he,  "and  considered  that  if 
a  man  has  fallen  into  a  ditch  his  first  duty  is  to  try 
and  raise  himself  out  of  it,  I,  being  in  like  case,  rose 
and  set  to  work  to  paint  some  pictures,  and  by  this 
and  other  means  I  endeavoured  to  earn  a  little  money. 
Then  I  said  to  myself  that  all  my  losses  and  risks 
were  over,  and  there  was  nothing  now  to  hinder  me 
from  making  good  pieces  of  ware;  and  so  I  began 
again,  as  before,  to  work  at  my  old  art."  l  But  he  was 
still  very  far  from  success,  and  continued  to  labour  on 
for  years  amidst  misfortune,  privation,  and  poverty. 
"  All  these  failures,"  he  continues,  "occasioned  me  such 
labour  and  sadness  of  spirit,  that  before  I  could  render 
my  various  enamels  fusible  at  the  same  degree  of  heat, 
I  was  obliged,  as  it  were,  to  roast  myself  to  death  at 
the  door  of  the  sepulchre ;  moreover,  in  labouring  at 
such  work,  I  found  myself,  in  the  space  of  about  ten 
years,  so  worn  out  that  I  was  shrunk  almost  to  a 
skeleton ;  there  was  no  appearance  of  muscle  on  my 

SY—  DC  I' Art  dc  Terre:  (Euyres  Completes,  p.  318. 


28  PALISSTS  PERSECUTION'S  AXD  SORROWS.  CHAP.  II. 

arms  or  legs,  so  that  my  stockings  fell  about  my  feet 
when  I  walked  abroad." 

His  neighbours  would  no  longer  have  patience  with 
him  ;  he  was  despised  and  mocked  by  them  all.  Yet 
he  persevered  with  his  art,  and  proceeded  to  make 
vessels  of  divers  colours,  which  he  at  length  began  to 
be  able  to  sell,  and  thus  earned  a  slender  maintenance 
for  his  family.  "  The  hope  which  inspired  me,"  says 
he,  "  enabled  me  to  proceed  with  my  work,  and  when 
people  came  to  see  me  I  sometimes  contrived  to  enter- 
tain them  with  pleasantry,  while  I  was  really  sad  at 
heart.  .  .  .  Worst  of  all  the  sufferings  I  had  to  endure 
were  the  mockeries  and  persecutions  of  those  of  my 
household,  who  were  so  unreasonable  as  to  expect 
me  to  execute  work  without  the  means  of  doing  so. 
For  years  my  furnaces  were  without  any  covering  or 
protection ;  and  while  attending  to  them  I  have  been 
exposed  for  nights,  at  the  mercy  of  the  wind  and  the 
rain,  without  any  help  or  consolation,  save  it  might  be 
the  meauling  of  cats  on  the  one  side,  or  the  howling 
of  dogs  on  the  other.  Sometimes  the  tempest  would 
beat  so  furiously  against  the  furnaces  that  I  was  com- 
pelled to  leave  them,  and  seek  shelter  within  doors. 
Drenched  by  rain,  and  in  no  better  plight  than  if  I 
had  been  dragged  through  rnire,  I  have  gone  to  lie 
down  at  midnight,  or  at  daybreak,  stumbling  into  the 
house  without  a  light,  and  reeling  from  one  side  to 
another,  as  if  I  had  been  drunken,  my  heart  filled 
with  sorrow  at  the  loss  of  my  labour  after  such  long 
toiling.  But,  alas!  my  home  proved  no  refuge  for 
me ;  for,  drenched  and  besmeared  as  I  was,  I  found  in 
my  chamber  a  second  persecution  worse  than  the  first, 
which  makes  me  even  now  marvel  that  I  was  not 
utterly  consumed  by  my  many  sorrows."  1 

In  the  midst  of  his  great  distress,  religion  came  to 
Palissy  as  a  consoler.  He  found  comfort  in  recalling 
to  mind  such  passages  of  the  Bible  as  he  carried  in 

1  PALISSY— De  VArt  de  Terre:  (Eurres  Completes,  p.  321. 


CHAP.  ii.  PALISSY  AND  TUE  GOSPEL.  29 


his  memory,  and  which  from  time  to  time  gave  him 
fresh  hope.  "  You  will  thus  observe,"  he  afterwards 
wrote,  "  the  goodness  of  God  to  me  :  when  I  was  in 
the  depth  of  suffering  because  of  my  art,  He  consoled 
me  with  His  Gospel ;  and  when  I  have  been  exposed 
to  trials  because  of  the  Gospel,  then  it  has  been  with 
my  art  that  He  has  consoled  me."  When  wandering 
abroad  in  the  fields  about  Saintes,  at  the  time  of  his 
greatest  troubles,  Palissy's  attention  was  wont  to  be 
diverted  from  his  own  sorrows  by  the  wonderful 
beauty  and  infinite  variety  of  nature,  of  which  he  was 
a  close  and  accurate  observer.  What  were  his  petty 
cares  and  trials  in  sight  of  the  marvellous  works  of 
God,  which  spoke  in  every  leaf,  and  flower,  and  plant, 
of  His  infinite  power,  and  goodness,  and  wisdom  ? 
"  When  I  contemplated  these  things,"  says  Palissy,  "  I 
have  fallen  upon  my  face,  and,  adoring  God,  cried  to 
Him  in  spirit, '  What  is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful  of 
him  ?  Not  to  us,  Lord,  not  to  us,  but  to  Thy  name  be 
the  honour  and  the  glory  ! '"  l 

There  were  already  many  followers  of  The  Religion 
in  Saintes  and  the  adjoining  districts.  It  so  happened 
that  Calvin  had,  at  an  early  period  in  his  life,  visited 
Saintonge,  and  sowed  the  seeds  of  the  Gospel  there. 
Calvin  was  a  native  of  Noyon,  in  Picardy,  and  had 
from  his  childhood  been  destined  for  the  priesthood. 
When  only  twelv  •».  years  old,  he  was  provided  with  a 
benefice ;  but  by  the  time  he  grew  to  man's  estate,  a 
relative  presented  him  with  a  copy  of  the  Bible,  and 
he  became  a  religious  reformer.  He  began,  almost 
involuntarily,  to  exhort  others  from  its  pages,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  preach  to  the  people  at  Bourges,  at  Paris, 
and  in  the  adjoining  districts.  From  thence  he  went 
into  Poitou  and  Saintonge  on  the  same  errand,  holding 
his  meetings  late  at  night  or  early  in  the  morning,  in 
retired  places — in  a  cellar  or  a  garret — in  a  wood  or  in 
the  opening  of  a  rock  in  a  mountain-side ;  a  hollow 

1  PAJLISSY— Recevte  Veritable:  (Euvres  Completes,  pp.  11G-17. 


SO  PALISSY  A  REFORMED  PREACHER.     CHAP,  n 

place  of  this  sort,  near  Poitiers,  in  which  Calvin  and 
his  friends  secretly  celebrated  the  Lord's  Supper,  being 
still  known  as  "  Calvin's  Cave." 

We  are  not  informed  by  Palissy  whether  he  ever 
met  Calvin  in  the  course  of  his  mission  in  Saintouge, 
which  occurred  shortly  after  the  latter  had  settled  at 
Saintes ;  but  certain  it  is,  that  he  was  one  of  the  first 
followers  and  teachers  of  the  new  views  in  that  neigh- 
bourhood. Though  too  poor  himself  to  possess  a  copy 
of  the  Bible,  Palissy  had  often  heard  it  read  by  others 
as  well  as  read  it  himself  while  on  his  travels;  and  his 
retentive  memory  enabled  him  to  carry  many  of  its 
most  striking  passages  in  his  mind,1  which  he  was  ac- 
customed to  reproduce  in  his  ordinary  speech.  Hence 
the  style  of  his  early  writings,  which  is  strongly  marked 
by  Biblical  terms  and  similitudes.  He  also  contrived 
to  obtain  many  written  extracts  from  the  Old  and 
New  Testament,  for  the  purpose  of  reading  them  to 
others ;  and  these  formed  the  texts  from  which  he  ex- 
horted his  fellow  Gospellers.  For  Palissy  was  one  of 
the  earliest  preachers  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  the 
town  of  Saintes,  if  he  was  not  indeed  its  founder. 

The  meetings  of  the  little  congregation  soon  became 
popular  in  Saintes.  The  people  of  the  town  went  at 
first  out  of  curiosity  to  observe  their  proceedings,  and 
they  were  gradually  attracted  by  the  earnestness  of  the 
worshippers.  The  members  of  "The  Religion"  were 
known  throughout  the  town  to  be  persons  of  blameless 
lives,  peaceable,  well-disposed,  and  industrious,  who 
commanded  the  respect  even  of  their  enemies.  At 
length  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Saintes  began  to  say  to 

1  The  Vaudois  peasantry  knew  was  appointed  to  preserve  in  his 

the  Bible  almost  by  heart.    Raids  memory    a    certain    number    of 

were  from   time  to  time  made  chapters ;  and  thus,  though  their 

into  their  district  by  the  agents  Bibles  were  seized  and  burnt,  too 

of  the  Romish  Church  for  the  pur-  Vaudois  were    still   enabled   to 

pose  of  seizing  and  burning  all  refer  to  their  Bibles  through  the 

such  copies  of  the  Bible  as  they  memories  of  the  young  minds  in 

could   lay  hands  on.     Knowing  which    the    chapters  were    pre- 

this,  the  peasants  formed  societies  served, 
of  young  persons,  each  of  whom 


CTTAP.  it.    ItELICIOUS  PEACEFULNESS  AT  SAINTES.     31 

their  monks  and  priests — "See  these  ministers  of  the 
new  religion :  they  make  prayers ;  they  lead  a  holy 
life  :  why  cannot  you  do  the  like  ? "  The  monks  and 
priests,  not  to  be  outdone  by  the  men  of  The  Religion, 
then  began  to  pray  and  to  preach  like  the  ministers ; 
"  so  that  in  those  days,"  to  use  the  words  of  Palissy, 
"  there  were  prayers  daily  in  this  town,  both  on  one 
side  and  the  other." 

So  kindly  a  spirit  began  to  spring  up  under  the 
operation  of  these  influences,  that  the  religious  exercises 
of  both  parties — of  the  old  and  the  new  religion — 
were  for  a  short  time  celebrated  in  several  of  the 
churches  by  turns  ;  one  portion  of  the  people  attending 
the  prayers  of  the  old  Church,  and  another  portion  the 
preachings  of  the  new ;  so  that  the  Catholics,  returning 
from  celebrating  the  mass,  were  accustomed  to  meet  the 
Huguenots  on  their  way  to  hear  the  exhortation,  as  is 
usual  in  Holland  at  this  day.  The  effects  of  this  joint 
religious  action  on  the  morals  of  the  people,  are  best 
described  in  Palissy's  own  words : — 

"The  progress  made  by  us  was  such,  that  in  the  course  of  a 
few  years,  by  the  time  that  our  enemies  rose  up  to  pillage  and 
persecute  us,  lewd  plays,  dances,  ballads,  gormandizings,  and 
superfluities  of  dress  and  head-gear,  had  almost  entirely  ceased. 
Scarcely  was  any  bad  language  to  be  heard  on  any  side  ;  nor 
were  there  any  more  crimes  and  scandals.  Lawsuits  greatly 
diminished  ;  for  no  sooner  had  any  two  persons  of  The  Religion 
fallen  out,  than  means  were  found  to  bring  them  to  an  agree- 
ment ;  moreover,  very  often  before  beginning  any  lawsuit,  the 
one  would  not  begin  it  before  first  exhorting  the  other.  When 
the  time  for  celebrating  Easter  drew  near,  many  differences,  dis- 
sensions, and  quarrels,  were  thus  stayed  and  settled.  There 
were  then  no  questions  amongst  them,  but  only  psalms,  prayers, 
and  spiritual  canticles  ; '  nor  was  there  any  more  desire  for  lewd 

1  The  Reformers  early  enlisted  sents  that  God  has  given  us. 
music  in  their  service,  and  it  Satan  cannot  make  head  against 
exercised  a  powerful  i  <ifluence  in  music."  Luther  was  a  poet  as 
extending  the  new  movement  well  as  a  musician ;  his  "  Ein' 
amongst  the  people.  "  Music,"  feste  Burg  ist  unser  Gott "  (one  of 
said  Luther.  "  is  the  art  of  the  the  themes  of  Meyerbeer's  Hit- 
prophets.  It  is  ono  of  the  most  gucnots),  which  rang  through  all 
magnificent  and  delightful  pre-  Germany,  was  the  "  Marseilfaise  " 


32  SOCIAL  REFORMATION  IN  SAIXTE&.     CHAP.  n. 

and  dissolute  songs.  Indeed,  The  Religion  made  such  progress, 
that  even  the  magistrates  began  to  prohibit  things  that  had 
grown  up  under  their  authority.  Thus,  they  forbade  innkeepers 
to  permit  gambling  or  dissipation  to  be  carried  on  within  their 
premises,  to  the  enticement  of  men  away  from  their  own  homes 
and  families. 

"  In  those  days  might  be  seen,  on  Sundays,  bands  of  work- 
people walking  abroad  in  the  meadows,  the  groves,  and  the 
fields,  singing  psalms  and  spiritual  songs,  or  reading  to  and 
instructing  one  another.  There  might  also  be  seen  girls  and 
maidens  seated  in  groups  in  the  gardens  and  pleasant  places, 
singing  songs  on  sacred  themes  ;  or  boys  accompanied  by  their 
teachers,  the  effects  of  whose  instruction  had  already  been  so 
salutary,  that  those  young  persons  not  only  exhibited  a  manly 
bearing,  but  a  manful  steadfastness  of  conduct.  Indeed,  these 
various  influences,  working  one  with  another,  had  already 
effected  so  much  good,  that  not  only  had  the  habits  and  modes 
of  life  of  the  people  been  reformed,  but  their  very  countenances 
themselves  seemed  to  be  changed  and  improved." 

But  this  happy  state  of  affairs  did  not  last  long. 
While  the  ministers  of  the  new  religion  and  the  priests 
of  the  old  (with  a  few  exceptions)  were  thus  working 
harmoniously  together  at  Saintes,  events  were  rapidly 
drawing  to  a  crisis  in  other  parts  of  France.  The 
heads  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  saw  with  alarm 

of  the  Reformation.    Luther  had  '•  The  Religion  "  as  they  marched 

improvised  both  the  words  and  along.    But  when  the  persecution 

the  music  two  days  before  his  revived,   the   singing  of  psalms 

appearance  at  the  Diet  of  Worms.  was  one  of  the  things  most  strictly 

As  he  was  journeying  towards  interdicted,    even    on    pain    of 

that  city,  he  caught  sight  of  its  death. 

bell-towers  in  the  distance,  on  Calvin  also,  at  Geneva,  took 
which  he  rose  up  in  his  chariot  great  care  to  have  the  psalms  set 
and  sang  the  noble  song.  to  good  music.  He  employed, 
The  French  Reformers  also  en-  with  that  object,  the  best  corn- 
listed  music  in  their  service  at  an  posers,  and  distributed  printed 
early  period.  The  psalms  were  copies  of  the  music  throughout  all 
translated  by  Clement  Marot  and  the  churches.  Thus  psalmody,  in 
Theodore  de  Beza,  setto  attractive  which  the  whole  people  could  join, 
music,  and  sung  in  harmony  in  everywhere  became  an  essential 
family  worship,  in  the  streets  and  part  of  the  service  of  the  Re- 
the  fields,  and  in  congregational  formed  Church  ;  the  chaunts  of 
meetings.  During  a  lull  in  the  the  Roman  Catholics  having,  un- 
persecution  at  Paris  in  1558,  til  then,  been  sung  only  by  the 
thousands  of  persons  assembled  priests  or  by  hired  performers, 
at  the  Pre"-aux-Clercs  to  listen  to  '  PALISST — CEuvres  Completes: 
ihe  psalms  sung  by  the  men  of  JReccpte  Veritable,  p.  108; 


CHAP.  ii.  POLITICAL  PO  WER  OF  THE  HUG  UENOTS.       3S 

the  rapid  strides  which  the  new  religion  was  making, 
and  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  population  were 
day  by  day  escaping  from  their  control.  Pope  Pius 
IV.,  through  his  agents,  urged  the  decisive  interference 
ot  the  secular  authority  to  stay  the  progress  of  heresy ; 
and  Philip  II.  of  Spain  supported  him  with  all  his 
influence. 

The  Huguenots  had  now,  by  virtue  of  their  increas- 
ing numbers,  become  a  political  power.  Many  of  the 
leading  politicians  of  France  embraced  the  Reformed 
cause,  not  so  much  because  they  were  impressed  by  the 
truth  of  the  new  views,  as  because  they  were  capable 
of  being  used  as  an  instrument  for  party  warfare. 
Ambitious  men,  opposed  to  the  court  party,  arrayed 
themselves  on  the  side  of  the  Huguenots,  caring  per- 
haps little  for  their  principles,  but  mainly  actuated  by 
the  desire  of  promoting  their  own  personal  ends.  Thus 
political  and  religious  dissension  combined  together  to 
fan  the  fury  of  the  contending  parties  into  a  flame. 
The  councils  of  state  became  divided  and  distracted. 
There  was  no  controlling  mediating  power.  The  ex- 
treme partizans  were  alike  uncompromising;  and  a 
social  outbreak,  long  imminent,  at  length  took  place. 

The  head  of  the  Church  in  France  alarmed  the  King 
with  fears  for  his  throne  and  his  life.  "  If  the  secular 
arm,"  said  the  Cardinal  de  Lorraine  to  Henry  II., 
"fails  in  its  duty,  all  the  malcontents  will  throw 
themselves  into  this  detestable  sect.  They  will  first 
destroy  the  ecclesiastical  power,  after  which  it  will  be 
the  turn  of  the  royal  power."  The  secular  arm  was 
not  slow  to  strike.  In  1559,  a  royal  edict  was  pub- 
lished declaring  the  crime  of  heresy  punishable  by 
death,  and  forbidding  the  judges  to  remit  or  mitigate 
the  penalty.  The  fires  of  persecution,  which  had  long 
been  smouldering,  again  burst  forth  all  over  France. 
The  provincial  Parliaments  instituted  Chambres  ar- 
dentes,  so  called  because  they  condemned  to  the  fire 
all  who  were  accused  and  convicted  of  the  crime  of 
heresy.  Palissy  himself  has  vividly  narrated  the 

3 


34  OUTBREAK  OF  PERSECUTION.          CHAP,  n 

effect  of  these  relentless  measures  in  his  own  district 
of  Saintes : 

"  The  very  thought  of  the  evil  deeds  of  those  days,"  says  he, 
"when  wjcked  men  were  let  loose  upon  us  to  scatter,  over- 
whelm, ruin,  and  destroy  the  followers  of  the  Reformed  faith, 
fills  my  mind  with  horror.  That  I  might  be  out  of  the  way  of 
their  frightful  and  execrable  tyrannies,  and  in  order  not  to  be  a 
witness  of  the  cruelties,  robberies,  and  murders  perpetrated  in 
this  rural  neighbourhood,  I  concealed  myself  at  home,  remain- 
ing there  for  the  space  of  two  months.  It  seemed  to  me  as  if 
during  that  time  hell  itself  had  broken  loose,  and  that  raging 
devils  had  entered  into  and  taken  possession  of  the  town  of 
Saintes.  For  in  the  place  where  I  had  shortly  before  heard  only 
psalms  and  spiritual  songs,  and  exhortations  to  pure  and  honest 
living,  I  now  heard  nothing  but  blasphemies,  assaults,  threaten- 
ings,  tumults,  abominable  language,  dissoluteness,  and  lewd  c.nd 
disgusting  songs,  of  such  sort  that  it  seemed  to  me  as  if  all 
purity  and  godliness  had  become  completely  stifled  and  ex- 
tinguished. Among  other  horrors  of  the  time,  there  issued  forth 
from  the  Castle  of  Taillebourg  a  band  of  wicked  imps  who 
worked  more  mischief  even  than  any  of  the  devils  of  the  old 
school.  On  their  entering  the  town,  accompanied  by  certain 
priests,  with  drawn  swords  in  their  hands,  they  shouted — 
'  Where  are  they  ?  let  us  cut  their  throats  instantly  ! '  though 
they  knew  well  enough  that  there  was  no  resistance  to  them, 
those  of  the  Reformed  Church  having  all  taken  to  flight.  To 
make  matters  worse,  they  met  an  innocent  Parisian  in  the 
street,  reported  to  have  money  about  him,  and  him  they  set 
upon  and  killed  without  resistance,  first  stripping  him  to  his 
shirt  before  putting  him  to  death.  Afterwards  they  went  from 
house  to  house,  stealing,  plundering,  robbing,  gormandising, 
mocking,  swearing,  and  uttering  foul  blasphemies  both  against 
God  and  man."1 

During  the  two  months  that  Palissy  remained 
secluded  at  home,  he  occupied  himself  busily  in  per- 
fecting the  secret  of  the  enamel,  which  he  had  so 
long  been  in  search  of.  Notwithstanding  his  devo- 
tion to  the  exercises  of  his  religion,  he  continued  to 
devote  himself  with  no  less  zeal  to  the  practice  of 
his  art;  and  his  fame  as  a  potter . already  extended 
far  beyond  the  bounds  of  his  district.  He  had  in- 
deed been  so  fortunate  as  by  this  time  to  have 

1  PALISSY —CEuvres  Completes :  Recejate  Writable,  p.  111. 


.  II.      PALISSY  SEIZED  AND  IMPRISONED.  35 

attracted  the  notice  of  a  powerful  noble,  the  Duke 
of  Montmorency,  Constable  of  France,  then  engaged 
in  building  the  magnificent  chateau  of  Ecouen,  at  St. 
Denis,  near  Paris.  Specimens  of  Palissy's  enamelled 
tiles  had  been  brought  under  the  duke's  notice,  who 
admired  them  so  much,  that  he  at  once  gave  Palissy 
an  order  to  execute  the  pavement  for  his  new  resi- 
dence. He  even  advanced  a  sum  of  money  to  the 
potter,  to  enable  him  to  enlarge  his  works,  so  as  to 
Complete  the  order  with  despatch. 

Palissy's  opinions  were  of  course  well  known  in  his 
district,  where  he  had  been  the  founder,  and  was  in  a 
measure  the  leader,  of  the  Reformed  sect.  The  duke 
was  doubtless  informed  of  the  danger  which  his  potter 
ran,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  persecution  ;  and  he  accord- 
ingly used  his  influence  to  obtain  a  safeguard  for  him 
from  the  Duke  of  Montpensier,  who  then  commanded 
the  royal  army  in  Saintonge.  But  even  this  protection 
was  insufficient ;  for,  as  the  persecution  waxed  hotter, 
and  the  search  for  heretics  became  keener,  Palissy 
found  his  workshop  no  longer  safe.  At  length  he 
was  seized,  dragged  from  his  home,  and  hurried  off 
by  night  to  Bordeaux,  to  be  put  upon  his  trial  for  the 
crime  of  heresy.  And  this  first  great  potter  of  France 
— this  true  man  of  genius,  religion,  and  virtue — would 
certainly  have  been  tried  and  burnt,  as  hundreds  more 
were,  but  for  the  accidental  circumstance  that  the 
Duke  of  Montmorency  was  in  urgent  want  of  ena- 
melled tiles  for  his  castle-floor,  and  that  Palissy  was 
the  only  man  in  France  capable  of  executing  them. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  sending  of  Palissy  to 
Bordeaux,  to  be  tried  there  instead  of  at  Saintes,  was 
a  ruse  on  the  part  of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier,  to 
gain  time  until  the  Constable  could  be  informed  of 
the  danger  which  threatened  the  life  of  his  potter ; 
for  Palissy  says, — "  It  is  a  certain  truth,  that  had  I 
been  tried  by  the  judges  of  Saintes,  they  would  have 
caused  me  to  die  before  I  could  have  obtained  from 
you  any  help." 


86  NONTMORENCT  AND  PALISST.          CHAP.  n. 

But  no  sooner  did  Montmorency  hear  of  the  peril 
into  which  his  potter  had  fallen,  and  find  that  unless 
he  bestirred  himself,  Palissy  would  be  burnt  and  his 
tiles  for  Ecouen  remain  unfinished,  than  he  at  once 
used  his  influence  with  Catharine  de  Medicis,  the 
Queen-mother,  with  whom  he  was  then  all-powerful, 
and  had  him  forthwith  appointed  "  Inventor  of  Rustic 
Figulines  to  the  King."  This  appointment  had  the 
effect  of  withdrawing  Palissy  from  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Parliament  of  Bordeaux,  and  transferring  him 
to  that  of  the  Grand  Council  of  Paris,  which  was 
tantamount  to  an  indefinite  adjournment  of  his  case. 
The  now  royal  potter  was  accordingly  released  from 
prison,  and  returned  to  Saintes  to  find  his  workshop 
roofless  and  devastated.  He  at  once  made  arrange- 
ments for  leaving  the  place;  and,  shaking  the  dust 
of  Saintes  from  his  feet,  he  shortly  after  removed  to 
the  Tuileries x  at  Paris,  where  he  long  continued  to 
carry  on  the  manufacture  of  his  famous  pottery. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  pursue  the  career  of  Palissy 
further  than  to  add,  that  the  circumstance  of  his 
being  employed  by  Catherine  de  Medicis  had  not  the 
slightest  effect  in  inducing  him  to  change  his  religion. 
He  remained  a  Huguenot,  and  stoutly  maintained  his 
opinions  to  the  last — so  stoutly,  indeed,  that  towards 
the  close  of  his  life,  when  an  old  man  of  seventy- 
eight,  he  was  again  arrested  as  a  heretic  and  imprisoned 
in  the  Bastile.  He  was  threatened  with  death  unless 
he  recanted.  But  though  he  was  feeble,  and  trem- 
bling on  the  verge  of  the  grave,  his  spirit  was  as  brave 
as  ever.  He  was  as  obstinate  now  in  holding  to  his 

1  Tuileries — so  called  from  the  neither  more  nor  less  than  one 

tile-works  originally  established  of  the  ovens  in  which   Palissy 

there  by  Francis  I.  in  1518.     A  baked  his  chefs-ifusuvre.    Several 

remarkable  and  unexpected  dis-  moulds  of  faces,  plants,  animals, 

covery  was  recently  made  in  the  etc.,  were  dug  up  in  an  excellent 

Place  du  Carrousel,   while  dig-  state  of  preservation,   and  also 

ging  out  the  foundations  for  part  some  fragments  of  plates,  etc., 

of    the    new    buildings  of    the  bearing  the  potter's  well-knowa 

Lonvre  —  recently   completed —  stamp. 


CHAP.  II.  PALISSY' S  END.  37 

religion,  as  he  had  been  more  than  thirty  years  before 
in  hunting  out  the  secret  of  the  enamel.  Mathieu  de 
Launay,  minister  of  state,  one  of  the  sixteen  members 
of  council,  insisted  that  Palissy  should  be  publicly 
burnt ;  but  the  Due  de  Mayenne,  who  protected  him, 
contrived  to  protract  the  proceedings  and  delay  the 
sentence. 

The  French  historian  D'Aubigne'  describes  Henry 
III.  as  visiting  Palissy  in  prison  with  the  object  of 
inducing  him  to  abjure  his  faith.  "  My  good  man," 
said  the  King,  "  you  have  now  served  my  mother  and 
myself  for  forty-five  years.  We  have  put  up  with 
your  adhering  to  your  religion  amid  fires  and  mas- 
sacres. But  now  I  am  so  pressed  by  the  Guise  party, 
as  well  as  by  my  own  people,  that  I  am  constrained  to 
leave  you  in  the  hands  of  your  enemies  ;  and  to-morrow 
you  will  be  burnt,  unless  you  become  converted." 
"Sire,"  answered  the  unconquerable  old  man,  "I  am 
ready  to  give  my  life  for  the  glory  of  God.  You 
have  said  many  times  that  you  have  pity  on  me : 
now  I  have  pity  on  you,  who  have  pronounced  the 
words  'I  am  constrained.'  It  is  not  spoken  like  a 
king,  sire;  it  is  what  you,  and  those  who  constrain 
you,  the  Guisards  and  all  your  people,  can  never 
effect  upon  me,  for  I  know  how  to  die." 

Palissy  was  not  burnt,  but  died  in  the  Bastile,  after 
about  a  year's  imprisonment,  courageously  persevering 
to  the  end,  and  glorying  in  being  able  to  lay  down  his 
life  for  his  faith.  Thus  died  a  man  of  truly  great  and 
noble  character,  of  irrepressible  genius,  indefatigable 
industry,  heroic  endurance,  and  inflexible  rectitude — 
one  of  France's  greatest  and  noblest  sons. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PERSECUTIONS   OF  THE  REFORMED. 

PALISSY  was  not  the  only  man  of  genius  in  France 
who  embraced  the  Reformed  faith.  The  tendency  of 
books  and  the  Bible  was  to  stimulate  inquiry  on  the 
part  of  all  who  studied  them ;  to  extend  the  reign  of 
thought,  and  emancipate  the  mind  from  the  dominion 
of  human  authority.  Hence  we  find  among  the  men 
of  "  The  Religion,"  Peter  Ramus  and  Joseph  Justus 
Scaliger,  the  philosophers;  Charles  Dumoulin,  the 
jurist ;  Ambrose  Pard,  the  surgeon ;  Henry  Stephens 
(or  Estienne),  the  printer  and  scholar  ;  *  Jean  Cousin, 
founder  of  the  French  school  of  painting ;  Barthe'lemy 
Prieur  and  Jean  Goujon,  sculptors;  Jean  Bullant, 
Debrosses,  and  Du  Cerceau,  architects;  Charles  Gou- 
dimel,  the  musical  composer  ;  and  Oliver  de  Serre,  the 
agriculturist.  These  were  among  the  first  men  of  their 
time  in  France. 

Persecution  did  not  check  the  spread  of  the  new 
views :  on  the  contrary,  it  extended  them.  The  spec- 
tacle of  men  and  women  publicly  suffering  death  for 
their  faith, — expiring  under  the  most  cruel  tortures 
rather  than  deny  their  convictions, — arrested  the  at- 
tention even  of  the  most  incredulous.  Their  curiosity 
was  roused ;  they  desired  to  learn  what  there  was  in 

1  The  Stephenses  or  Estiennes,  ing  Paris  for  Genera,  where  they 

being  threatened  with  persecu-  settled,  and  a  long  succession  of 

tion  by  the    Sorbonne,  because  illustrious  scholars  and  printers 

of  the  editions  of  the  Bible  and  handed  down  the  reputation  of 

New  Testament  printed  by  them,  the  family, 
were  under  the  necessity  of  leav- 


CHAP.  in.  INFLUENCE  OF  T1IE  HEFOHMED  PAHlY.    39 

the  forbidden  Bible  to  inspire  such  constancy  and  en- 
durance; and  they  too  read  the  book,  and  in  many 
cases  became  followers  of  The  Religion. 

Thus  the  new  views  spread  rapidly  all  over  France. 
They  not  only  became  established  in  all  the  large 
towns,  but  penetrated  the  rural  districts,  more  espe- 
cially in  the  south  and  south-east  of  France.  The 
social  misery  which  pervaded  these  districts  doubtless 
helped  the  spread  of  the  new  doctrines  among  the 
lower  classes;  for  "there  was  even  more  discontent 
abroad,"  said  Brantome,  "than  Huguenotism."  But 
they  also  extended  amongst  the  learned  and  the 
wealthy.  The  heads  of  the  house  of  Bourbon,  An- 
toine  duke  of  Vendome  and  Louis  prince  of  Conde', 
declared  themselves  in  favour  of  the  new  views.  The 
former  became  the  husband  of  the  celebrated  Jeanne 
D'Albret,  Queen  of  Navarre,  daughter  of  the  Protes- 
tant Margaret  of  Valois;  and  the  last  became  the 
recognised  leader  of  the  Huguenots.  The  head  of  the 
Coligny  family  took  the  same  side.  The  Montmoren- 
cies  were  divided :  the  Constable  halting  between  the 
two  opinions,  waiting  to  see  which  should  prove  the 
stronger;  while  others  of  the  family  openly  sided  with 
the  Reformed.  Indeed,  it  seemed  at  one  time  as  if 
France  were  on  the  brink  of  becoming  Protestant. 
In  1561  the  alarmed  Cardinal  de  Sainte-Croix  wrote 
to  the  Pope,  "  The  kingdom  is  already  half  Hugue- 
not." 

Unhappily  for  France,  the  country  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Queen  and  the  Guises.  Henry  II.  had 
married  an  Italian  wife,  Catherine  de  Medicis,  niece  of 
the  Pope.  Great  magnificence  was  displayed  at  the 
Queen's  coronation.  Voluptuousness  arid  cruelty  are 
usually  combined.  The  pomp  of  the  tournaments  was 
combined  with  the  burning  of  four  Lutherans.  Perse- 
cution prevailed;  and  many  persons  of  influence  left 
the  country.  The  King  confiscated  to  himself  the  pro- 
perty of  those  who  took  refuge  abroad.  Pope  Paul 
IV.,  the  Cardinal  de  Lorraine,  the  Sorbonne,  and  the 


40  BURNING  OF  LUTHERANS.  CHAP.  ill. 

priests  demanded  that  the  Inquisition  should  be  estab- 
lished in  France.  A  bull  to  this  effect  was  issued,  and 
the  King  confirmed  it  by  an  edict;  but  Parliament 
would  not  enforce  it,  and  France  was  spared  the 
disgrace. 

The  Doctors  of  the  Sorbonne  did  their  utmost  to 
inflame  the  minds  of  the  people  against  the  heretics. 
They  influenced  the  power  of  the  State,  which  went  on 
persecuting  and  burning.  Henry  II.  concluded  a  peace 
with  Spain,  and  entered  into  a  treaty  to  exterminate 
heresy ;  and,  in  pledge  of  this  treaty,  his  daughter 
Elizabeth  was  to  espouse  Philip  II.  The  Cardinal  de 
Lorraine  proposed,  as  the  most  agreeable  exhibition  to 
the  Spanish  ambassadors,  who  had  arrived  in  Paris 
to  take  away  the  betrothed  princess,  to  bum  before 
them  half  a  dozen  Lutheran  counsellors.  "  We  must," 
to  use  his  own  expression,  "give  this  junket  to  these 
grandees  of  Spain." 

The  King  died  by  the  splinter  of  a  lance  received  in 
a  tournament;  and  Francis  II.  reigned  in  his  stead. 
He  was  only  sixteen  years  old,  and  was  feeble  in 
body  and  mind ;  so  that  his  mother,  Catherine  de 
Medicis,  became  the  real  governor  of  France.  She  was 
surrounded  by  the  Guises,  Chatillons,  Saint  Andre's,  the 
Constable  de  Montmorency,  and  others,  who  worked 
for  their  own  advantage  the  fictitious  royalty  of 
Francis  II.  Catherine  de  Medicis  was  artful  and  vin- 
dictive, ambitious  of  power,  devoid  of  moral  feelings, 
though  of  considerable  intellectual  capacity.  De  Felice 
says  that  "  no  wife  and  mother  of  our  kings  has  done  so 
much  injury  to  France  as  this  Italian  woman."  He  adds  : 
"  We  are  speaking  of  the  Italians  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury— nobles  and  priests — who,  eternally  witnessing 
at  Rome,  Florence,  Naples,  scenes  of  assassination, 
poisoning,  and  the  utmost  turpitude,  had  sunk  into 
the  very  lowest  state  of  depravity.  It  is  they — his- 
tory attests  it — who  planned,  devised,  and  finally 
executed  in  France  the  most  monstrous  crimes  of  the 
epoch." 


CHAP.  IIL  THE  GUISES.  41 

The  Guises  were  the  true  leaders  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  party.  They  formed  a  younger  branch  of  the 
family  of  the  Dukes  of  Lorraine.  Although  foreigners 
(for  Lorraine  formed  then  no  part  of  France),  they 
soon  acquired  a  considerable  influence.  Claude  de  Lor- 
raine had  by  Antoinette  de  Bourbon  six  sons  and  four 
daughters,  all  of  whom  rose  to  offices  of  distinction. 
One  of  his  daughters,  Mary  of  Lorraine,  married  James 
V.  of  Scotland,  whose  sole  surviving  issue  was  Mary, 
afterwards  Queen  of  Scots.  At  six  years  old  Mary 
was  sent  to  France,  where  she  was  educated  with 
the  King's  daughters.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  she  was 
married  to  the  Dauphin.  When  the  Dauphin  became 
king,  the  Guises  became  all-powerful.  Francis  II.  en- 
trusted the  government  of  France  to  Francis  duke  of 
Guise  and  to  his  brother  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  both 
uncles  of  Mary  Stuart.  The  Duke  obtained  command 
of  the  army ;  the  Cardinal  became  Archbishop  of 
Rheims,  and  the  possessor  of  the  enormous  income  of 
three  hundred  thousand  crowns  annually. 

These  two  foreigners,  together  with  the  Italian 
Queen-mother,  having  virtually  taken  possession  of 
France,  excited  the  envy  of  the  French  aristocracy. 
The  persecutions  and  burnings  with  which  the  Guises 
treated  the  Huguenots,  could  not  fail  to  excite  their 
hostility.  Anthony  of  Bourbon,  King  of  Navarre,  and 
Louis  his  brother,  Prince  of  Conde,  with  the  other 
princes  of  the  blood,  and  the  great  officers  of  State, 
being  indignant  at  seeing  the  supreme  powers  of  France 
in  such  hands,  entered  into  a  conspiracy  against  the 
Guises, — proposing  to  expel  the  Lorraines  and  place  the 
government  of  France  in  the  hands  of  French  princes. 

Louis  de  Conde'  was  the  invisible  chief  of  the  con- 
spiracy, and  he  induced  many  of  his  Huguenot  followers 
to  join  it.  But  Coligny  and  many  other  Huguenot 
chiefs  knew  nothing  about  it,  and  many  of  those  of 
The  Religion  were  strongly  opposed  to  it.  La  Re- 
naudie  represented  the  political  malcontents,  and  was 
the  visible  chief  of  the  conspiracy. 


42  CONSPIRACY  OF  AMDOISE.  CHAP.  ill. 

The  advocate,  Des  Avenelles,  informed  the  Guises 
of  the  plot,  and  they  immediately  took  steps  to  pre- 
vent its  success.  The  Court  was  then  at  Blois, — in 
olden  times  the  residence  of  the  kings  and  princes 
of  France.  The  chateau  is  seated  on  the  side  of  a 
picturesque  hill,  overlooking  the  Loire.  Being  in- 
capable of  defence,  the  Guises  removed  the  Court  to 
the  magnificent  castle  of  Amboise,  situated  a  little 
lower  down  the  Loire,  on  the  left  bank  of  that  beau- 
tiful river. 

Before  the  conspiracy  had  come  to  a  head,  the 
Guises  arrested  those  who  had  proposed  to  take  part 
in  it.  Twelve  hundred  prisoners  were  then  brought 
to  Amboise  to  be  executed. 

To  please  the  royal  personages  at  the  castle,  they 
were  brought  out  to  a  balcony,  that  still  exists,  in  order 
to  witness  the  butchery.  There  were  then  present,  in 
Court  costumes,  Francis  II.,  King  of  France,  and  Mary 
Stuart  his  wife,  afterwards  Queen  of  Scots ;  Catherine 
de  Medicis;  Charles  and  Henry,  afterwards  Charles  IX. 
and  Henry  III.,  Kings  of  France.  The  Cardinal  of  Lor- 
raine was  also  present,  as  well  as  the  Ladies  in  waiting. 

La  Renaudie,  the  chief  of  the  conspiracy,  was  first 
hung  on  a  gibbet  in  the  centre  of  the  bridge  over  the 
Loire.  The  remainder  of  the  twelve  hundred  were 
hung  and  beheaded  within  sight  of  the  ladies.  No 
inquiry,  no  trial,  was  permitted.  They  were  merely 
executed  and  strung  up  as  fast  as  possible.  The 
castle  walls  were  decorated  with  their  hanging 
bodies.  The  wearied  headsman  below  resigned  his 
axe,  and  consigned  the  remainder  to  other  execu- 
tioners, who,  tying  their  feet  and  hands  together, 
threw  them  into  the  Loire,  where  they  were  drowned. 
The  butchery  did  not  end  so  pleasantly  after  all.  The 
stench  arising  from  the  dead  bodies  was  such,  that  the 
Court  was  driven  from  the  castle  in  the  course  of  a 
few  days. 

Francis  II.  and  Queen  Mary  did  not  enjoy  their 
honours  long.  The  King  died  in  his  seventeenth  year, 


CHAP.  HI.         FRANCIS  IT.  AND  CHARLES  JJT.  43 

after  a  reign  of  seventeen  months.  As  he  had  shown 
some  symptoms  of  rebelling  against  the  constraints 
to  which  he  was  subject,  it  was  supposed  that  he  had 
died  from  poison.  At  all  events,  his  funeral  was  dis- 
regarded. He  was  borne  to  his  grave  by  an  old  blind 
bishop  and  two  servitors.  His  queen,  Mary,  returned 
to  Scotland,  to  attempt  to  exercise  upon  a  rougher, 
but  more  sturdy  people,  the  methods  of  government 
which  she  had  learnt  from  Catherine  de  Medicis  and 
her  uncles  the  Guises. 

When  Francis  II.  was  laid  in  his  grave,  Charles  IX., 
eleven  years  old,  was  proclaimed  king,  Catherine  de 
Medicis  regent,  and  Anthony  de  Bourbon  lieutenant- 
governor  of  the  kingdom. 

The  Prince  of  Conde',  who  had  been  imprisoned, 
was  set  free.  The  Constable,  Anne  de  Montmorency, 
resumed  his  office  of  Grand  Master  near  the  new 
King.  The  Guises  suffered  a  fall;  but  they  bided 
their  time,  and  before  long,  they  were  once  more  to  the 
front  again. 

When  Charles  IX.  succeeded  to  the  throne,  it  was 
found  that  the  finances  of  the  kingdom  were  in  a 
deplorable  state.  Society  was  distracted  by  the  feuds 
of  the  nobles — over  whom,  as  in  Scotland  about  the 
same  period,  the  monarch  exercised  no  effective  con- 
trol. 

France  had,  however,  her  Parliament  or  States- 
General,  which  in  a  measure  placed  the  King's  govern- 
ment en  rapport  with  the  nation.  On  its  assembling 
in  December  1560,  the  Chancellor  de  L'Hopital  ex- 
horted men  of  all  parties  to  rally  round  the  young 
King ;  and,  while  condemning  the  odious  punishments 
which  had  recently  been  inflicted  upon  persons  of  the 
Reformed  faith,  he  announced  the  intended  holding  of 
a  national  council,  and  expressed  the  desire  that 
thenceforward  France  should  recognise  neither  Hugue- 
nots nor  Papists,  but  only  Frenchmen. 

A  Roman  Catholic  himself,  he  advised  his  co- 
religionists to  adorn  themselves  with  virtues  and  a 


44  VIEWS  OF  THE  STATES- GENERAL.      CHAP.  ill. 

good  life,  and  to  attack  their  adversaries  with  the 
arms  of  charity,  of  prayer,  and  of  persuasion.  "  The 
knife,"  he  said,  "  avails  but  little  against  the  mind. 
Gentleness  will  do  more  than  severity.  Give  up 
those  fiendish  names, — Lutherans,  Huguenots,  Papists; 
change  them  to  the  name  of  Christian." 

This  was  the  first  utterance  of  the  voice  of  con- 
ciliation. The  Protestants  heard  it  with  joy,  their 
enemies  with  rage.  Jean  Quintin,  the  representative 
of  the  clergy,  demanded  that  measures  should  be  taken 
to  deliver  France  from  heresy,  and  that  Charles  IX. 
should  vindicate  his  claim  to  the  title  of  "  Most  Chris- 
tian King."  Lange,  the  spokesman  of  the  Tiers  Etat, 
on  the  other  hand,  declared  against  "  the  three  principal 
vices  of  the  ecclesiastics — pride,  avarice,  and  igno- 
rance " ;  and  urged  that  they  should  return  to  the 
simplicity  of  the  primitive  Church.  The  nobles,  di- 
vided amongst  themselves,  demanded,  some  that  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  should  be  forbidden,  and  others 
that  there  should  be  general  freedom  of  worship; 
but  all  who  spoke  were  unanimous  in  acknowledging 
the  necessity  for  a  reform  in  the  discipline  of  the 
Church. 

While  the  state  of  religion  thus  occupied  the  Depu- 
ties, an  equally  grave  question  occupied  the  Court. 
There  was  no  money  in  the  exchequer ;  the  rate  of 
interest  was  twelve  per  cent.;  and  forty-three  millions 
of  francs  were  required  to  be  raised  from  an  im- 
poverished nation.  The  Deputies  were  alarmed  at  the 
appalling  figure  which  the  chancellor  specified ;  and, 
declaring  that  they  had  not  the  requisite  power  to 
vote  the  required  sum,  they  broke  up  amidst  agitation, 
leaving  De  1'Hopital  at  variance  with  the  Parliament, 
which  refused  to  register  the  edict  of  amnesty  to  the 
Protestants  which  the  King  had  proclaimed. 

The  King's  minister,  being  most  anxious  to  bring  all 
parties  to  an  agreement  if  possible,  and  to  allay  the 
civil  discord  which  seemed  to  be  fast  precipitating 
France  into  civil  war,  arranged,  with  the  sanction  of 


CHAP.  m.         THE  RELIGIOUS  CONFERENCE.  45 

the  Queen-mother,  for  a  conference  between  the  heads 
of  the  religious  parties;  and  it  took  place  at  Vassy 
in  the  presence  of  the  King  and  his  court,  in  August 

1561.  Pope  Pius  IV.  was  greatly  exasperated  when 
informed   of  the   intended  conference,   and   declared 
himself   to   have    been    betrayed    by  Catherine    de 
Medicis.     It  appeared  to  him  that  the  granting  of 
such  a  conference  was  a  recognition  of  the  growing 
power  of  Heresy  in  France, — the  same  heresy  which 
had  already  deprived  Rome  of  her  spiritual  dominion 
over  England  and  Germany.     The  Pope's  fears  were, 
doubtless,  not  without  foundation ;  and   had  France 
at  that   juncture    possessed  a    Knox   or    a    Luther 
— a  Regent  Murray  or  a  Lord  Burleigh — the  results 
would  have  been  widely  different.      But  as  it  was, 
the  Reformed  party  had  no  better  leader   than  the 
scholarly  and  pious  Theodore  de  Beza ;  and  the  con- 
ference had  no  other  result  than  to  drive  the  contend- 
ing parties  more  widely  asunder  than  before. 

Although  a  royal  edict  was  published  in  January 

1562,  guaranteeing  to  the  Protestants  liberty  of  wor- 
ship, the  concession  was  set  at  defiance  by  the  Papal 
party,  whose  leaders  urged   on   the   people  in  many 
districts  to  molest  and  attack  the  followers  of  the  new 
faith.     The  Papists  denounced  the  heretics,  and  called 
upon  the  Government  to  extirpate  them ;  the  Hugue- 
nots, on  their  part,  denounced  the  corruptions  of  the 
Church,  and  demanded  their  reform.     There  was  no 
dominant  or  controlling  power  in  the  State,  which 
drifted  steadily  in  the  direction  of  civil  war.     Both 
parties  began  to  arm ;  and  in  such  a  state  of  things  a 
spark  may  kindle  a  conflagration. 

The  Queen-mother,  being  a  profound  dissimulator, 
appeared  still  disposed  to  bargain  with  the  Reformed, 
She  sounded  Coligny  as  to  the  number  of  followers 
that  he  could,  in  event  of  need,  place  at  the  service  of 
the  King.  His  answer  was,  "  We  have  two  thousand 
and  fifty  churches,  and  four  hundred  thousand  men 
able  to  bear  arms,  without  taking  into  account  our 


46  MASSA  ORE  OF  VASST.  CHAP.  in. 

secret  adherents."1  Such  was  the  critical  state  of 
affairs  when  matters  were  precipitated  to  an  issue  by 
the  action  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  the  leader  of  the 
Catholic  party. 

On  Christmas  Day  1562,  the  Protestants  of  Vassy, 
in  Champagne,  met  to  the  number  of  about  three 
thousand,  to  listen  to  the  preaching  of  the  Word,  and 
to  celebrate  the  Sacrament  according  to  the  practice 
of  their  Church.  Vassy  was  one  of  the  possessions  of 
the  Guises,  the  mother  of  whom,  Antoinette  de  Bour- 
bon, an  ardent  Roman  Catholic,  could  not  brook  the 
idea  of  the  vassals  of  the  family  daring  to  profess  a 
faith  different  from  that  of  their  feudal  superior. 
Complaint  had  been  made  to  her  Grace,  by  the  Bishop 
of  Chalons,  of  the  offence  done  to  religion  by  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  people  of  Vassy ;  and  she  threatened 
them,  if  they  persisted  in  their  proceedings,  with  the 
the  vengeance  of  her  son  the  Duke  of  Guise. 

Undismayed  by  this  threat,  the  Protestants  of 
Vassy  continued  to  meet  publicly,  and  listen  to  their 
preachers,  believing  themselves  to  be  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  law,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  royal 
edict.  On  the  1st  of  March  1563,  they  held  one  of 
their  meetings,  at  which  about  twelve  hundred  per- 
sons were  present,  in  a  large  barn  which  served  for  a 
church.  The  day  before,  the  Duke  of  Guise,  accom- 
panied by  the  duchess  his  wife,  the  Cardinal  of  Lor- 
raine, and  about  two  hundred  men  armed  with  arque- 
busses  and  poniards,  set  out  for  Vassy.  They  rested 
during  the  night  at  Dampmarten,  and  next  morning 
marched  direct  upon  the  congregation  assembled  in 
the  barn.  The  minister,  Morel,  had  only  begun  his 
opening  prayer,  when  two  shots  were  fired  at  the  per- 
sons on  the  platform.  The  congregation  tried  in  vain 
to  shut  the  doors ;  the  followers  of  the  Duke  of  Guise 
burst  in,  and  precipitated  themselves  on  the  unarmed 


1  Nknoire»  de  Condi,  ii.  687. 


CTTAP.  in.    TRIUMPH  OF  THE  DUKE  OF  GUISE.  47 

men,  women,  and  children.  For  an  hour  they  fired, 
hacked,  and  stabbed  amongst  them,  the  duke  coolly 
watching  the  carnage.  Sixty  persons  of  both  sexes 
were  left  dead  on  the  spot;  more  than  two  hundred 
were  severely  wounded ;  the  rest  contrived  to  escape. 
After  the  massacre,  the  duke  sent  for  the  local  judge, 
and  severely  reprimanded  him  for  having  permitted 
the  Huguenots  of  Vassy  thus  to  meet.  The  judge 
intrenched  himself  behind  the  edict  of  the  King.  The 
duke's  eyes  flashed  with  rage,  and  striking  the  hilt  of 
his  sword  with  his  hand,  he  said,  "  The  sharp  edge  of 
this  will  soon  cut  your  edict  to  pieces." l 

The  massacre  of  Vassy  was  the  match  applied  to 
the  charge  which  was  now  ready  to  explode.  It  was 
the  signal  to  Catholic  France  to  rise  in  mass  against 
the  Huguenots.  The  clergy  glorified  the  deed  from 
the  pulpit,  and  compared  the  duke  to  Moses,  when  he 
ordered  the  extermination  of  all  who  had  bowed  the 
knee  to  the  golden  calf.  A  fortnight  later,  the  duke 
entered  Paris  in  triumph,  followed  by  about  twelve 
hundred  noblemen  and  gentlemen,  mounted  on  horses 
richly  caparisoned.  The  provost  of  merchants  went 
out  to  meet  and  welcome  him  at  the  Porte  Saint- 
Denis;  and  the  people  received  him  with  immense 
acclamations  as  the  defender  of  the  faith  and  the 
saviour  of  the  country. 

Theodore  de  Beza,  overwhelmed  with  grief,  waited 
on  his  Majesty,  to  complain  of  the  gross  violation  of 
the  terms  of  the  royal  edict,  of  which  the  Guise  party 
had  been  guilty.  But  the  King  and  the  Queen-mother 
were  powerless  amidst  the  whirlwind  of  excitement 
which  prevailed  throughout  Paris.  They  felt  that 
their  own  lives  were  not  safe  ;  and  they  at  once  se- 
cretly departed  for  Fontainebleau.  The  Duke  of  Guise 
followed  them,  accompanied  by  a  strong  escort.  Ar- 
rived there,  and  admitted  to  an  interview,  the  duke 


Hiitoire  des  Ouerres  Civiles  de  France*  liv.  ii.  p.  379. 


48  "CAPTAIN  BURNS ENCHES."  CHAP.  m. 

represented  to  Catherine  that,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
Huguenots  obtaining  possession  of  the  King's  person, 
it  was  necessary  that  he  should  accompany  them  to 
Melun;  but  the  Queen-mother  might  remain  if  she 
chose.  She  determined  to  accompany  her  son.  After 
a  brief  stay,  the  Court  was  again  installed  in  the 
Louvre  on  the  6th  of  April.  The  Queen-mother  was 
thus  for  a  time  vanquished  by  the  Guises. 

The  court  waverers  and  the  waiters  on  fortune  at 
once  arrayed  themselves  on  the  side  of  the  strong. 
The  old  Constable  de  Montmorency,  who  had  been 
halting  between  two  opinions,  signalised  his  re-ad- 
herence to  the  Church  of  Rome  by  a  characteristic  act. 
Placing  himself  at  the  head  of  the  mob,  whose  idol  he 
was  desirous  of  being,  he  led  them  to  the  storming  of 
the  Protestant  church  outside  the  Porte  Saint-Jacques, 
called  the  "Temple  of  Jerusalem."  Bursting  in  the 
doors  of  the  empty  place,  they  tore  up  the  seats,  and 
placing  them  and  the  Bibles  in  a  pile  upon  the  floor, 
they  set  the  whole  on  fire,  amidst  great  acclamations. 
After  this  exploit,  the  Constable  made  a  sort  of  trium- 
phal entry  into  Paris,  as  if  he  had  won  some  great 
battle.  Not  content,  he  set  out  on  the  same  day  to 
gather  more  laurels  at  the  village  of  Popincourt,  where 
he  had  the  Protestant  church  there  set  on  fire  ;  but  the 
conflagration  extending  to  the  adjoining  houses,  many 
of  them  were  also  burnt  down.  For  these  two  great 
exploits  the  Constable  received  the  nickname  of  "  Cap- 
tain Burnbenches ! " 

More  appalling,  however,  than  the  burning  of 
churches,  were  the  massacres  which  followed  that  of 
Yassy  all  over  France — at  Paris,  at  Senlis,  at  Amiens, 
at  Meaux,  at  Chalons,  at  Troyes,  at  Bar-sur-Seine,  at 
Epernay,  at  Nevers,  at  Mans,  at  Angers,  at  Blois,  and 
many  other  places.  At  Tours  the  number  of  the  slain 
was  so  great,  that  the  banks  of  the  Loire  were  almost 
covered  with  the  corpses  of  men,  women,  and  children. 
The  persecution  especially  raged  in  Provence,  where 
the  Protestants  were  put  to  death  after  being  sub- 


CHAP.  III.       INTOLERANCE  OF  THE  GUISES.  49 

jected  to  a  variety  of  tortures.1  Any  detail  of  these 
events  would  present  only  a  hideous  monotony  of  mas- 
sacre. We  therefore  pass  them  by. 

Measures  were  also  taken  by  the  Guise  party  to  put 
down  the  pestilent  nuisance  of  printing ;  and  printers 
were  forbidden  to  print  or  publish  anything  with- 
out permission,  on  pain  of  death.  The  decree  to  this 
effect,  relating  to  Lyons,  bearing  the  signature  of 
Charles  IX.,  and  dated  the  10th  September  1563,  is 
still  preserved  at  the  Bibliotheque  Impe'riale,  Paris, 
and  runs  as  follows  : — "  It  is  forbidden  to  publish  or 
print  any  work  or  writing,  in  rhyme  or  in  prose,  with- 
out the  previous  authorisation  of  our  lord  the  King, 
under  pain  of  being  hanged  or  strangled."  Another 
clause  says : — "  Three  times  every  year  a  visit  shall  be 
made  in  the  shops  and  printing-houses  of  the  printers 
and  booksellers  of  Lyons  by  two  trustworthy  persons 
belonging  to  the  Church,  one  representing  the  Arch- 
bishop and  the  other  the  Chapter  of  the  said  city,  and 
they  shall  be  accompanied  by  the  seneschal  of  Lyons." 

When  the  Roman  Catholics  fell  upon  the  Huguenots 
with  such  fury,  the  latter  gave  way  in  all  directions. 
The  Prince  of  Conde,  however,  having  raised  the  stand- 
ard of  resistance,  numbers  of  followers  gathered  round 
his  banner.  Admiral  Coligny  at  first  refused  to  join 
him,  but,  yielding  to  the  entreaties  of  his  wife,  he  at 
length  placed  himself  by  the  side  of  Condd  A  period 
of  fierce  civil  war  ensued,  in  which  the  worst  passions 
were  evoked  on  both  sides,  and  frightful  cruelties  were 
perpetrated,  to  the  shame  of  religion,  in  whose  name 
these  things  were  done.  The  whole  of  France  became 
a  battle-field.  The  Huguenots  revenged  themselves 
on  the  assassins  of  their  co-religionists,  by  defacing 
and  destroying  the  churches  and  monasteries.  In  their 

1  PUAUX,  ii.  p.  152.  This  writer  tholomew  was  not  that  of  1572, 
says  that,  although  the  massacre  but  of  1562 — which  year  contained 
of  Saint  Bartholomew  is  usually  by  far  the  most  dolorous  chapter 
cited  as  the  culminating  horror  in  the  history  of  French  Protes- 
of  the  time,  the  real  Saint  Bar-  tantism. 

4 


f>0  ICONOCLASM  AXJ)  CIVIL   WAR.       CHAP.  lil. 

iconoclastic  rage  they  hewed  and  broke  the  images,  the 
carvings,  and  the  richly-decorated  work  of  the  cathe- 
drals at  Bourges,  at  Lyons,  at  Orleans,  at  Rouen,  at 
Caen,  at  Tours,  and  many  other  places.  They  tore 
down  the  crucifixes,  and  dragged  them  through  the 
streets ;  they  violated  the  tombs  of  saints  and  sove- 
reigns, and  profaned  the  sacred  shrines  of  the  Roman 
Catholics.  "  It  was,"  says  Henri  Martin,  "  as  if  a  blast 
of  the  infernal  trumpet  had  everywhere  awakened  the 
spirit  of  destruction,  and  the  delirious  fury  grew  and 
became  drunk  with  its  own  excess."  All  this  rage, 
however,  was  but  the  inevitable  reaction  against  the 
hideous  cruelties  of  which  the  Huguenots  had  so  long 
been  the  passive  victims.  They  decapitated  beautiful 
statues  of  stone,  it  is  true ;  but  the  Guises  had  decapi- 
tated the  living  men. 

The  year  after  the  massacre  of  Vassy,  the  Duke  of 
Guise,  during  the  siege  of  Orleans,  was  assassinated  by 
a  Calvinist  named  Poltrot  de  Mend.  Several  of  Pol- 
trot's  relations  had  been  murdered  by  Roman  Catholics. 
Coligny  was  accused  of  complicity  in  the  assassination, 
but  he  himself  denied  all  knowledge  of  it.  Every 
party  was  alike  enraged.  Many  pacifications  were 
arrived  at,  but  they  brought  no  peace. 

It  is  not  necessary,  in  our  rapid  sketch,  to  follow 
the  course  of  the  civil  war.  The  Huguenots  were 
everywhere  outnumbered.  They  fought  bravely,  but 
they  fought  as  rebels, — the  King  and  the  Queen-mother 
being  now  at  the  head  of  the  Guise  party.  In  nearly 
all  the  great  battles  fought  by  them,  they  were  de- 
feated,— at  Dreux,1  at  Saint  Denis,  at  Jarnac,  and  at 

1  This    was   nearly  a    drawn  luc,  one  of  the    Guise  generals, 

battle  ;  and  that  it  was  decided  says  in  his  Commentaries  : — "  If 

in  favour  of  the  Guise  party,  was  this  battle  had  been  lost,  what 

almost  entirely  due  to  the  Swiss  would  have  become  of  Prance  ? 

infantry,  who  alone  resisted  the  Its  government  would  have  been 

shock  of  Conde's  cavalry.    When  changed  as  well  as  its  religion  ; 

Conde    and    Coligny  withdrew  for  with  a  young  king  parties 

their  forces  in  good  order,  8,000  can  do  what  they  mil." 
men  lay  dead  on  •the  field.    Mont- 


CHAP.  ill.  PEACE  OF  ST.  GERtiAINS.  .<>t 

Montcontour.  But  they  rallied  again,  sometimes  in 
greater  numbers  than  before;  and  at  length  Coligny 
was  enabled  to  collect  such  reinforcements  as  seriously 
to  threaten  Paris. 

France  had  now  been  devastated  throughout  by  the 
contending  armies,  and  many  of  the  provinces  were 
reduced  almost  to  a  state  of  desert.  The  combatants 
on  both  sides  were  exhausted,  though  their  rancour 
remained  unabated.  Peace,  however,  had  at  last  be- 
come a  necessity ;  and  a  treaty  was  signed  at  Saint 
Germains,  in  1570,  by  which  the  Protestants  were 
guaranteed  liberty  of  worship,  equality  before  the  law, 
and  admission  to  the  universities  :  while  the  four 
principal  towns  of  La  Rochelle,  Montauban,  Cognac, 
and  La  Charitd,  were  committed  to  them  as  pledges 
of  safety. 

Under  the  terms  of  this  treaty,  France  enjoyed  a 
state  of  peace  for  about  two  years ;  but  it  was  only 
the  quiet  that  preceded  the  outbreak  of  another  storm. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  DUKE  OF  ALVA  IN  FLANDEKS — MASSACEE  OF 
SAINT   BARTHOLOMEW. 

WHILE  these  events  were  proceeding  in  France,  a 
furious  civil  war  was  raging  in  Flanders,  which  then 
formed  part  of  the  extensive  dominions  of  Spain. 
This  war  arose  out  of  the  same  desire  on  the  part 
of  the  Roman  Church  to  crush  the  Reform  move- 
ment, which  had  been  making  considerable  progress 
in  the  Low  Countries. 

The  Provinces  of  the  Netherlands  had  reached  the 
summit  of  commercial  and  manufacturing  prosperity. 
They  were  inhabited  by  a  hard-working,  intelligent, 
and  enterprising  people — great  as  artists  and  mer- 
chants, painters  and  printers,  architects  and  iron- 
workers,— as  the  decayed  glories  of  Antwerp,  Bruges, 
and  Ghent,  testify  to  this  day.  Although  the  two 
latter  cities  never  completely  recovered  from  the  in- 
juries inflicted  on  them  by  the  tyranny  of  the  trades' 
unions,  there  were  numerous  other  towns,  where  in- 
dustry had  been  left  comparatively  free,  in  which  the 
arts  of  peace  were  cultivated  in  security.  Under  the 
mild  sway  of  the  Burgundian  dukes,  Antwerp  became 
the  centre  of  the  commerce  of  northern  Europe ;  and 
more  business  is  said  to  have  been  done  there  in  a 
mcnth,  than  at  Venice  in  two  years  when  at  the 
summit  of  its  grandeur.  About  the  year  1550,  it  was 
no  uncommon  sight  to  see  as  many  as  2500  ships  in 
the  Scheldt,  laden  with  merchandise  for  all  parts  of 
the  world. 

Such  was  the  prosperity  of  Flanders,  when  Philip  II. 


CHAP.  iv.         PHILIP  II.  AND  THE  JESUITS.  53 

of  Spain  succeeded  to  the  rich  inheritance  of  Bur- 
gundy, on  the  resignation  of  Charles  V.  in  the  year 
1566.  Philip  inherited  from  his  father  two  passions 
— hatred  of  the  Reformed  Church,  and  hatred  of 
France.  To  destroy  the  one  and  humiliate  the  other 
constituted  the  ambition  of  his  life;  and  to  accom- 
plish both  objects,  he  spared  neither  the  gold  which 
Pizarro  and  his  followers  had  brought  from  the  New 
World,  nor  the  blood  of  his  own  subjects. 

Had  his  subjects  been  of  the  same  mind  with  him- 
self in  religious  matters,  Philip  might  have  escaped 
the  infamy  which  attaches  to  his  name.  But  a  large 
proportion  of  the  most  skilled  and  industrious  people 
of  the  Netherlands,  had  imbibed  the  new  ideas  as  to 
reform  in  religion,  which  had  swept  over  northern 
Europe.  They  had  read  the  newly- translated  Bible 
with  avidity.  They  had  formed  themselves  into  re- 
ligious communities,  and  appointed  preachers  and 
teachers  of  their  own.  In  a  word,  they  were  Pro- 
testants ;  and  the  King  determined  that  they  should 
forthwith  be  reconverted  to  Roman  Catholicism. 

Shortly  before  this  time,  there  had  risen  up  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Chuich  a  man  in  all 
respects  as  remarkable  as  Luther,  who  exercised  as 
extraordinary  an  influence,  though  in  precisely  the 
opposite  direction,  upon  the  religious  history  of  Europe. 
This  was  Ignatius  Loyola,  the  founder  of  the  Jesuits, 
who  infused  into  his  followers  a  degree  of  zeal,  energy, 
devotion,  and  it  must  be  added,  unscrupulousness — 
never  stopping  to  consider  the  means,  provided  only 
the  ends  could  be  accomplished — which  told  most 
powerfully  in  the  struggle  of  Protestantism  for  life  or 
death  throughout  northern  Europe. 

Loyola  was  born  in  1491.  He  was  wounded  at  the 
siege  of  Painpeluna  in  1520.  After  a  period  of  medi- 
tation and  mortification,  he  devoted  himself,  in  1522,  to 
the  service  of  the  Church ;  and  in  1540,  the  Order  of 
the  Jesuits  was  recognised  at  Rome  and  established 
by  papal  bull.  The  Society  early  took  root  in  France, 


84  THE  INQUISITION  IN  FLANDERS.     CHAP,  rv 

where  it  was  introduced  by  the  Cardinal  de  Lorraine  ; 
and  it  shortly  after  acquired  almost  supreme  influence 
in  the  State.  Under  the  Jesuits,  the  Romish  Church, 
reorganised  and  redisciplined,  became  one  of  the  most 
complete  of  spiritual  machines.  The  Jesuits  enjoined 
implicit  submission  and  obedience.  Against  liberty 
they  set  up  authority.  To  them  the  Individual  was 
nothing,  the  Order  everything.  They  were  vigilant 
sentinels,  watching  night  and  day  over  the  interests 
of  Rome.  One  of  the  first  works  to  which  they 
applied  themselves,  was  the  extirpation  of  the  here- 
tics who  had  strayed  from  the  fold.  The  principal 
instrument  which  they  employed  with  this  object, 
was  the  Inquisition  ;  and  wherever  they  succeeded  in 
establishing  themselves,  that  institution  was  set  up 
or  was  armed  with  fresh  powers.  They  tolerated  no 
half-measures.  They  were  unsparing  and  unpitying; 
and  wherever  a  heretic  was  brought  before  them,  and 
they  had  the  power  to  deal  with  him,  he  must  either 
recant  or  die. 

Accordingly,  Philip  had  no  sooner  succeeded  to  the 
Spanish  throne,  than  he  ordered  a  branch  of  the  In- 
quisition to  be  set  up  in  Flanders,  with  the  Cardinal 
Granvelle  as  Inquisitor-General.  The  institution  ex- 
cited great  opposition  amongst  all  classes,  Catholic 
as  well  as  Protestant.  It  very  soon  evoked  much 
hostility  and  resistance,  which  eventually  culmi- 
nated in  civil  war.  Sir  Thomas  Gresham,  writing 
to  Cecil  from  Antwerp  in  1566,  said,  "  There  are 
above  40,000  Protestants  in  this  toune,  which  will 
die  rather  than  the  word  of  God  should  be  put  to 
silence." 

The  struggle  which  now  began  was  alike  fierce  and 
determined  on  both  sides.  It  extended  over  many 
years.  The  powerful  armies  which  the  King  directed 
against  his  revolted  subjects,  were  led  by  able  generals 
— by  the  Duke  of  Alva,  and  Alexander  Farnese,  Prince 
of  Parma.  In  course  of  time,  they  succeeded  in  ex- 
terminating or  banishing  the  greater  number  of  Pro- 


CHAP.  IV.  RUIN  OF  FLANDERS.  55 

testants  south  of  the  Scheldt ;  at  the  same  time  that 
they  ruined  the  industry  of  Flanders,  destroyed  its 
trade,  and  reduced  the  Catholics  themselves  to  beggary. 
Bruges  and  Ghent  became  crowded  with  thieves  and 
paupers.  The  busy  quays  of  Antwerp  were  deserted, 
and  its  industrious  artizans,  tradesmen,  and  merchants 
lied  from  the  place,  leaving  their  property  behind  them, 
a  prey  to  the  spoiler.1 

The  Duchess  of  Parma,  writing  to  Philip  in  1567, 
said  that  "  in  a  few  days  100,000  men  had  already 
left  the  country  with  their  money  and  goods,  and 
that  more  were  following  every  day."  Clough,  writ- 
ing to  Gresham  from  Antwerp  in  the  same  year, 
Brad — "It  is  marveylus  to  see  how  the  pepell  packe 
away  from  hense;  some  for  one  place,  and  some  for 
another ;  as  well  the  Papysts  as  the  Protestants ;  for 
it  is  thought  that  howsomever  it  goeth,  it  cannot  go 
well  here;  for  that  presently  all  the  welthy  and  rich 
men  of  both  sydes,  who  should  be  the  stay  of  matters, 
make  themselves  away." 2 

The  Duke  of  Alva  carried  on  this  frightful  war  of 
extermination  and  persecution  for  six  years,  during 
which  he  boasted  that  he  had  sent  18,000  persons  to 
the  stake  and  the  scaffold,  besides  the  immense  num- 
bers destroyed  in  battles  and  sieges,  and  in  the  un- 
recorded acts  of  cruelty  perpetrated  on  the  peasantry 
by  the  Spanish  soldiery.  The  sullen  bigot,  Philip  II., 
heard  of  the  depopulation  and  ruin  of  his  provinces 
without  regret;  and  though  Alva  was  recalled,  the 
war  was  carried  on  with  increased  fury  by  the  generals 
who  succeeded  him.  What  mainly  comforted  Philip 
was,  that  the  people  who  remained  were  at  length 
terrified  into  orthodoxy.  The  ecclesiastics  assured 
the  Duke  of  Parma,  the  governor,  that,  notwith- 
standing the  depopulation  of  the  provinces,  more 

1  It  is  said  that  for  some  years  royal  treasury  of  Philip  twenty 

the  plunder  of  the  murdered  and  millions  of  dollars  annually, 

proscribed    Protestants    of    the  2  Flanders    Correspondence  -— 

Low  Countries  brought  into  the  State- Paper  Office. 


56    FLIGHT  OF  TIIE  FLEMISH  PROTESTANTS.   CHAP.  iv. 

people  were  coming  to  them  for  confession  and  ab- 
solution at  the  last  Easter,  than  had  ever  come  since 
the  beginning  of  the  revolt.  Parma  immediately 
communicated  the  consoling  intelligence  to  Philip, 
who  replied,  "  You  cannot  imagine  my  satisfaction 
at  the  news  you  give  me  concerning  last  Easter." 

The  flight  of  the  Protestants  from  the  Low  Countries 
continued  for  many  years.  All  who  were  strong  enough 
to  fly,  fled;  only  the  weak,  the  helpless,  and  the  hope- 
less, remained.  The  fugitives  turned  their  backs  on 
Flanders,  and  their  faces  towards  Holland,  Germany, 
and  England.  They  fled  thither  with  their  wives  and 
children,  and  the  goods  that  they  could  carry  with 
them,  to  seek  new  homes.  Several  hundred  thousands 
of  her  best  artizans — clothiers,  dyers,  weavers,  tanners, 
cutlers,  and  iron-workers  of  all  kinds — left  Flanders, 
carrying  with  them  into  the  countries  of  their  adop- 
tion, their  skill,  their  intelligence,  and  their  spirit  of 
liberty.  The  greater  number  of  them  went  directly 
into  Holland,  then  gallantly  struggling  with  Spain 
for  independent  existence.  There  they  founded  new 
branches  of  industry,  which  eventually  proved  a  source 
of  wealth  and  strength  to  the  United  Provinces.  Many 
others  passed  over  into  England,  hailing  it  as  "  Asylum 
Christi,"  and  formed  the  settlements  of  which  an  ac- 
count will  be  given  in  succeeding  chapters. 

Having  thus  led  the  reader  up  to  the  period  at 
which  the  Exodus  of  Protestants  from  the  Low  Coun- 
tries took  place,  we  return  to  France,  where  Catherine 
de  Medicis  was  stealthily  maturing  her  plans  for  the 
extirpation  of  heresy  in  the  dominions  of  her  son. 
The  treaty  of  1570  was  still  observed.  The  Huguenots 
were  allowed  to  worship  God  after  their  own  forms ; 
and  France  was  slowly  recovering  from  the  fratricidal 
wounds  which  she  had  received  during  the  recent 
civil  wars.  We  must,  however,  revert  to  an  interview 
which  took  place  at  Bayonne  between  Catherine  de 
Medicis  and  her  daughter  the  Queen  of  Spain,  who  was 
accompanied  by  the  Duke  of  Alva,  in  the  month  of 


CHAP.  IV.  INTERVIEW  AT  BAYONNE.  67 

June  15G4.  The  Queen-mother  had  travelled  south 
to  the  Spanish  frontier,  to  hold  this  interview, — of 
sinister  augury  for  the  Huguenots. 

The  Queen-mother  had  by  this  time  gone  entirely 
round  to  the  Guise  party,  and  carried  her  son,  Charles 
IX.,  with  her.  She  was  equally  desirous,  with  the 
Duke  of  Alva,  to  extirpate  heresy.  But  while  the 
duke  urged  their  immediate  extermination,  in  accom- 
plishing which  he  offered  the  help  of  a  Spanish  army, 
Catherine,  on  the  contrary,  was  in  favour  of  tem- 
porising with  them.  It  might  be  easy  for  Philip  to 
extirpate  heresy  by  force  in  Spain  or  Italy,  where 
the  Protestants  were  few  in  number  ;  but  the  case  was 
different  in  France,  where  the  Huguenots  had  shown 
themselves  able  to  bring  large  armies  into  the  field,  led 
by  veteran  generals ;  and  where  they  actually  held  in 
their  possession  many  of  the  strongest  places  in  France. 

Alva  urged  that  the  Queen-mother  should  strike  at 
the  leaders  of  the  party,  and  cut  them  off  at  once. 
He  would  rather  catch  the  large  fish  and  let  the  small 
fry  alone.  "  One  salmon,"  said  he,  "  is  worth  a  thou- 
sand frogs."1 

The  Queen-mother  assured  the  duke  of  her  ardent 
desire  to  extirpate  the  Reformed  religion;  her  only 
difficulty  consisted  in  the  means  by  which  it  was  to 
be  accomplished.  She  had  been  brought  up  in  the 
school  of  Machiavelli,  and  could  bide  her  time. 

In  the  meanwhile,  she  determined  to  retain  the 
governing  power  as  much  as  possible  in  her  own 
hands.  One  method  by  which  she  effected  this,  was> 
by  the  corruption  of  her  son.  "  Will  there  be  no  pity/' 
asked  M.  de  Chateaubriand,7  "for  this  monarch  of 
twenty-three  years  of  age,  born  with  good  talents, 
with  a  taste  for  literature  and  the  arts,  a  character 
naturally  generous,  whom  a  detestable  mother  had 


'  Davila,  the  Italian  historian,      expression.     Mathieu    does    the 
a    confidant    of    Catherine    de      same. 
Medicis,   mentions    this  famous          a  Etudes  Histori^nes. 


68        THE  HUGUENOT  CHIEFS  BETRAYED.        CHAP.  rv'. 

delighted  to  deprave  by  all  the  abuses  of  debauchery 
and  power  ? " 

The  means  which  she  employed  are  horrible  to  con- 
template. She  surrounded  him  with  the  worst  speci- 
mens of  both  sexes ;  and  the  young  king  was  brought 
up  amidst  gambling,  drunkenness,  and  debauchery  of 
the  worst  description.  The  Queen  never  lost  sight  of 
the  promise  she  had  made  to  the  Duke  of  Alva.  The 
Protestants  were  to  be  extirpated,  and  murder  was  to 
be  the  instrument  employed. 

The  young  chief  of  the  Huguenots,  Henry  of 
Navarre,  afterwards  Henry  IV.,  was  invited,  with 
the  other  nobles  and  princes  of  the  Reformers,  to 
attend  Court  at  the  nuptials  of  the  King  with  Eliza- 
beth of  Austria,  in  1570.  But  the  rejoicings  at  Paris 
had  no  temptations  for  the  cautious  chiefs.  They 
preferred  to  remain  in  security  at  their  strong  fortress 
of  Rochelle. 

Another  plan  remained  to  be  adopted.  Catherine 
de  Medicis  arranged  a  match  between  her  daughter 
Margaret  and  Henry  of  Navarre ;  and  she  desired 
the  King  to  offer  his  sister's  hand  in  marriage  to  the 
chief  of  the  Huguenots.  The  King  wrote  to  Admiral 
Coligny  in  terms  of  praise  and  admiration,  and  offered 
to  send  an  army  into  Flanders  under  his  command, 
to  co-operate  with  the  Prince  of  Orange  against  the 
King  of  Spain. 

Henry  of  Navarre  accepted  the  proposal  of  marriage 
with  the  King's  sister.  Admiral  Coligny  himself  was 
won  over  by  the  King's  offered  terms  of  reconciliation. 
Jeanne  D'Albret,  Henry's  mother,  concurred  in  the 
union;  and  the  Huguenot  chiefs  generally  believed  that 
the  marriage  might  put  an  end  to  the  feuds  and  civil 
wars  that  had  so  long  prevailed  between  the  rival  re- 
ligious communities  of  France. 

Pope  Pius  V.,  however,  refused  to  grant  the  neces- 
sary dispensation  to  enable  the  marriage  to  be  cele- 
brated according  to  the  rites  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church ;  but  the  Queen-mother  got  over  this  little 


CHAP.  iv.     MAURI  AGE  OF  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.          .'9 

difficulty  by  causing  a  dispensation  to  be  forged  in 
the  Pope's  name.1 

As  Catherine  de  Medicis  had  anticipated,  the  heads 
of  the  Keformed  party,  regarding  the  marriage  as 
an  important  step  towards  national  reconciliation, 
resorted  to  Paris  in  large  numbers,  to  celebrate  the 
event  and  grace  the  royal  nuptials.  Amongst  those 
present  were  Admiral  Coligny  and  his  family.  Some 
of  the  Huguenot  chiefs  were  not  without  apprehen- 
sions for  their  personal  safety,  and  even  urged  the 
admiral  to  quit  Paris.  But  he  believed  in  the  pre- 
tended friendship  of  the  Queen-mother  and  her  son, 
and  insisted  on  staying  until  the  ceremony  was  over. 
The  marriage  was  celebrated  with  great  splendour  in 
the  cathedral  church  of  Notre  Dame  on  the  18th  of 
August  1572, — the  principal  members  of  the  nobility, 
Protestant  as  well  as  Roman  Catholic,  being  present 
on  the  occasion.  It  was  followed  by  a  succession  of 
feasts  and  gaieties,  in  which  the  leaders  of  both  par- 
ties participated  ;  and  the  fears  of  the  Huguenots  were 
thus  completely  disarmed. 

On  the  day  after  the  marriage,  a  secret  council  was 
held  in  Catherine  de  Medicis'  private  chamber,  at  which 
it  was  determined  to  proclaim  a  general  massacre  of 
the  Huguenots. 

There  were  present  at  this  meeting,  Catherine,  her 
son  Henry  duke  of  Anjou,  Henry  of  Guise,  an  Italian 
bishop,  and  other  favourites.  There  is  no  doubt  about 
the  premeditation  of  the  massacre.  The  French 
Roman  Catholic  historians  admit  it, — De  Thou, 
Mdzeray,  Pe're'fixe,  and  Mainbourg.  The  Italian  his- 
torians go  further :  Davila,  Capilupi,  Adrian!,  and 
Catena,  admire  the  premeditation,  and  see  in  the 
massacre  the  wonderful  effect  of  the  blessings  of 
Heaven ! 

The  rejoicings  on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage  lasted 
for  four  days.  On  the  fourth  day,  the  22nd  of  August, 

1  VACVILUEBS — Hustoire  de  Jeanne  d'Albrct, 


60  ATTEMPT  TO  MURDER  COLIGNT.      CHAP.  iv. 

Coligny  attended  a  council  at  the  Louvre,  and  went 
afterwards  with  the  King  to  the  tennis  court,  where 
Charles  and  the  Duke  of  Guise  played  a  game  against 
two  Huguenot  gentlemen.  In  the  meantime,  Maure- 
vel,  the  king's  assassin  (le  tueur  du  roi)  had  been 
sent  for,  and  invited  to  murder  the  Huguenot  leader. 
The  assassin  lay  in  wait  for  the  Admiral  in  a  house 
situated  near  the  church  of  Saint  Germain  TAuxerrois, 
between  the  Louvre  and  the  Rue  Be'thisy.  As  Coligny 
was  walking  home  from  his  interview  with  the  King, 
and  reading  a  paper,  Maurevel  fired  at  him,  and 
wounded  him  in  the  hand  and  arm.1  Coligny  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  his  hotel,  where  he  was  attended 
by  Ambrose  Pare',  who  performed  upon  him  a  painful 
operation.  The  King  visited  the  wounded  man  at  his 
hotel,  professed  the  greatest  horror  at  the  dastardly 
act  which  had  been  attempted,  and  vowed  vengeance 
against  the  assassin. 

The  conspirators  met  again  on  the  following  day, 
the  23rd  of  August,  at  the  Louvre.  After  dinner,  the 
Queen-mother  entered  the  King's  chamber;  and,  shortly 
after,  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  and  several  lords 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  party.  Charles  was  then  in- 
formed that  the  admiral  (who  was  l}*ing  helplessly 
wounded)  and  his  friends,  were  at  that  moment  plot- 
ting his  destruction,  and  that  if  he  did  not  anticipate 
them,  he  and  his  family  would  be  sacrificed.  Mad- 
dened by  the  malicious  representations  of  his  mother, 
he  cried  out,  "  Kill  all !  Kill  all !  Let  not  one  escape 
to  reproach  me  with  the  deed  ! " 

The  plan  of  the  massacre  had  already  been  ar- 
ranged. Its  execution  was  entrusted  to  the  Dukes 
of  Guise,  Anjou,  Aumale,  Montpensier,  and  Marshal 
Favannes.  Midnight  approached,  and  the  day  of  St. 
Bartholomew  arrived.  It  wanted  two  hours  of  the 
appointed  time.  All  was  still  at  the  Louvre.  The 

Maurevel,   though   his    shot      ceived  from  the  King  2,000  crowns 
failed,    was   rewarded,    lie  re-      and  the  Collar  of  the  Order. 


CHAP.  IV.    MASSACRE  OF  ST.  BARTHOLOMEW.  61 

Queen-mother,  and  her  two  sons,  Charles  IX.  and  the 
Duke  of  Anjou,  went  to  an  open  balcony  and  awaited 
the  result  in  breathless  silence.  Two  o'clock  struck. 
The  die  was  cast.  The  great  bell  of  the  church  of  St. 
Auxerrois  rang  to  early  prayer.  It  was  the  arranged 
signal  for  the  massacre  to  begin.  Almost  immediately 
after,  the  first  pistol-shot  was  heard.  Three  hundred 
of  the  royal  guard,  who  had  been  held  in  readiness 
during  the  night,  rushed  out  into  the  streets,  shouting 
"  For  God  and  the  King ! "  To  distinguish  themselves 
in  the  darkness,  they  wore  a  white  sash  on  the  left 
arm,  and  a  white  cross  in  their  hats. 

Before  leaving  the  palace,  a  party  of  the  guard 
murdered  the  retinue  of  the  young  King  of  Navarre, 
then  the  guests  of  Charles  IX.  in  the  Louvre.  On  the 
evening  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  after  he  had  given 
his  orders  for  the  massacre,  Charles  redoubled  his 
kindness  to  the  King  of  Navarre,  and  desired  him 
to  introduce  some  of  his  best  officers  into  the  Louvre, 
that  they  might  be  at  hand  in  case  of  any  disturb- 
ances from  the  Guises.  One  by  one  these  officers  were 
called  by  name  from  their  rooms,  and  marched  down 
unarmed  into  the  quadrangle,  where  they  were  hewed 
down  before  the  very  eyes  of  their  royal  host.  A 
more  perfidious  butchery  is  probably  not  recorded  in 
history. 

At  the  same  time,  mischief  was  afoot  throughout 
Paris.  Le  Charron,  provost  of  the  merchants,  and 
Marcel,  his  ancient  colleague,  had  mustered  a  large 
number  of  desperadoes,  to  whom  respective  quarters 
had  been  previously  assigned,  and  they  now  hastened 
to  enter  upon  their  frightful  morning's  work. 

The  Duke  of  Guise  determined  to  anticipate  all 
others  in  the  murder  of  Coligny.  Hastening  to  his 
hotel,  the  Duke's  party  burst  in  the  outer  door.  The 
admiral  was  roused  from  his  slumber  by  the  shots  fired 
at  his  followers  in  the  courtyard  below.  He  rose  from 
his  couch,  and,  though  scarcely  able  to  stand,  he  fled 
to  an  upper  chamber.  Thither  he  was  tracked  by  his 


62  THE  GENERAL  SLAUGHTER.  CHAP.  IV. 

assassins,  who  stabbed  him  to  death  as  he  stood  lean- 
ing against  the  wall.  His  body  was  flung  out  of  the 
window  into  the  courtyard. 

The  Duke  of  Guise,  who  had  been  waiting  impa- 
tiently below,  hurried  up  to  the  corpse,  and  wiping 
the  blood  from  the  admiral's  face,  said,  "  I  know  him 
— it  is  he  ! "  then,  kicking  the  body  with  his  foot,  he 
called  out  to  his  followers — "  Courage,  comrades,  we 
have  begun  well.  Now  for  the  rest !  The  King 
commands  it."  They  then  rushed  out  into  the  street. 

The  fury  of  the  Court  was  seconded  by  the  long- 
pent-up  hatred  of  the  Parisians.  The  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew  was  infinitely  more  ferocious  than  the 
butcheries  of  the  Revolutionists  of  1792,  or  of  the  Com- 
munists of  1871.  The  Huguenots  were  slaughtered  in 
their  beds,  or  while  endeavouring  to  escape  unarmed, 
without  any  regard  to  age  or  sex  or  condition.  The 
Court  leaders  galloped  through  the  streets,  cheering  the 
armed  citizens  to  the  slaughter.  "  Death  to  the  Hu- 
guenots ! "  "  Kill — kill :  bleeding  is  as  wholesome  in 
Augustas  in  May!  "  shouted  the  Marshal  Favannes; 
"  Kill  all !  Kill  all !  God  will  know  His  own !  "  Nor 
were  the  populace  slow  to  imitate  the  bloodthirsti- 
ness  of  their  superiors.  The  slaughter,  however,  was 
not  wholly  confined  to  the  Huguenots.  Secret  re- 
venge and  personal  hatred  embraced  this  glorious 
opportunity;  and  many  Roman  Catholics  fell  by  the 
hands  of  these  Roman  Catholic  assassins. 

Firing  was  heard  in  every  quarter  throughout  Paria 
The  houses  of  the  Huguenots,  which  had  been 
marked,  were  broken  into ;  and  men,  women,  and 
children,  were  sabred  or  shot  down.  It  was  of  no 
use  trying  to  fly.  The  fugitives  were  slaughtered  in 
the  streets.  The  King  himself  seized  his  arquebus, 
and  securely  fired  upon  his  subjects  from  a  window  in 
the  Louvre. 

Corpses  blocked  the  doorways ;  mutilated  bodies  lay 
in  every  lane  and  passage ;  and  thousands  were  cast 
into  the  Seine,  then  swollen  by  a  flood. 


CHAP.  iv.  EXD  OF  THE  MASSACRE.  63 

Jean  Goujon,  the  famous  sculptor,  sometimes 
styled  the  French  Phidias,  was  shot  from  below,  whilst 
employed  on  a  scaffold  in  executing  the  decorative 
work  of  the  old  Louvre.  Goudimal,  the  musical  com- 
poser, and  Ramus,  the  philosopher,  were  slain  during 
the  massacre.  Before  this  time,  Ramus's  house  had 
been  pillaged  and  his  library  destroyed.  Dumoulin, 
the  great  jurisconsult,  had  previously  escaped  by 
death.  "The  execrable  day  of  St.  Bartholomew," 
said  the  Catholic  Chateaubriand,  "only  made  martyrs  : 
it  gave  to  philosophical  ideas  an  advantage  over 
religious  ideas  which  has  never  since  been  lost." 

At  the  same  time,  there  were  many  who  escaped  the 
swords  of  the  assassins.  Some  of  the  Huguenots  on 
the  southern  side  of  the  Seine  had  time  to  compre- 
hend their  position,  and  escaped.  But  what  of  Henry 
of  Navarre  and  Henry  of  Condd  ?  The  King  sent  for 
them  during  the  massacre,  and  said  to  them  in  a 
ferocious  tone,  "  The  mass,  death,  or  the  Bastille  ! " 
After  some  resistance,  the  princes  consented  to  make 
profession  of  the  Romish  faith. 

Palissy,  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken,  was 
now  an  old  man,  and  he  owed  his  escape  to  the  cir- 
cumstance that  he  was  then  in  the  employment  of 
Catherine  de  Medicis.  Ambrose  Pare*,  the  surgeon, 
also  escaped.  He  had  won  the  confidence  of  the 
King,  by  saving  him  from  the  effects  of  a  wound  in- 
flicted on  him  by  a  clumsy  surgeon,  when  performing 
the  operation  of  venesection.  Pard,  though  a  Hugue- 
not, held  the  important  office  of  Surgeon-in-ordinary 
to  the  King,  and  was  constantly  about  his  person.  To 
this  circumstance  he  owed  his  escape  from  the 
massacre, — the  King  having  concealed  him  during  the 
first  night  in  a  private  room  adjoining  his  own 
chamber. 

The  massacre  lasted  for  three  days.  At  length,  on 
the  fourth  day,  when  the  fury  of  the  assassins  had 
become  satiated,  and  the  Huguenots  had  for  the 
most  part  been  slain,  a  dead  silence  fell  upon  the 


64  REJOICINGS  AT  THE  MASSACRE.      CHAP.  iv. 

streets  of  Paris.  Perhaps  the  people  began  to  reflect 
that  it  was  their  own  countrymen  whom  they  had  slain. 

These  dreadful  deeds  at  the  capital  were  almost  im- 
mediately followed  by  similar  massacres  all  over  France. 
From  fifteen  to  eighteen  hundred  persons  were  killed 
at  Lyons ;  and  the  dwellers  on  the  Rhone,  below  that 
city,  were  horrified  by  the  sight  of  the  dead  bodies 
floating  down  the  river.  Six  hundred  were  killed  at 
Rouen ;  and  many  more  at  Dieppe  and  Havre.  The 
massacre  in  the  provinces  lasted  more  than  six  weeks ! 
The  numbers  killed  throughout  France  have  been 
variously  estimated.  Sully  says  70,000  were  slain ; 
the  Roman  Catholic  Bishop  Perefixe  has  said  that 
100,000  were  destroyed. 

While  the  streets  of  Paris  were  still  besmeared  with 
blood,  the  clergy  celebrated  an  extraordinary  jubilee. 
They  appeared  in  a  general  procession.  They  deter- 
mined to  consecrate  an  annual  feast  to  a  triumph  so 
glorious.  A  medal  was  struck  in  commemoration  of  the 
event,  bearing  the  legend,"  Piety  has  awakened  justice  " ! 

Catherine  de  Medicis  wrote  in  triumph  to  the  Duke 
of  Alva,  to  Philip  II.,  and  to  the  Pope,  describing  the 
results  of  the  three  days'  dreadful  work  in  Paris. 
When  Philip  heard  of  the  massacre,  he  is  said  to  have 
laughed  for  the  first  and  only  time  in  his  life.  Rome 
was  thrown  into  a  delirium  of  joy  at  the  news.  The 
cannon  were  fired  at  St.  Angelo ;  Gregory  XIII.  and 
his  cardinals  went  in  procession  from  sanctuary  to 
sanctuary  to  give  God  thanks  for  the  massacre.  The 
subject  was  ordered  to  be  painted,  and  a  medal  was 
struck  to  celebrate  the  event,  with  the  Pope's  head 
on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  an  angel,  with  a  cross 
in  one  hand  and  a  sword  in  the  other,  pursuing  and 
slaying  a  band  of  flying  heretics — strange  work  for  an 
angel !  The  legend  it  bears — UGONOTTORUM  STRAGES, 
1572  (Massacre  of  the  Huguenots,  1572) — briefly  epi- 
tomises the  horrible  story.1 

1  An  authentic  copy  of  this  medal  is  to  be  seen  at  the  British 
Museum. 


CHAP.  iv.  DEATH  OF  CHARLES  IX.  to 

The  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  the  head  of  the  Guises, 
was  at  Rome  at  the  time  of  the  massacre,  and  he  cele- 
brated the  affair  by  a  procession  to  the  French  church 
of  St.  Louis.  He  had  an  inscription  written  upon  the 
gates  in  letters  of  gold,  saying  that  "  the  Lord  had 
granted  the  prayers  which  he  had  offered  to  Him  for 
twelve  years." 

Cardinal  Orsini  was  despatched  on  a  special  mission 
to  Paris  to  congratulate  the  King ;  and  on  his  passage 
through  Lyons,  the  assassins  of  the  Huguenots,  with  the 
blood  on  their  hands  scarcely  dry,  knelt  before  the  holy 
man  in  the  cathedral,  and  received  his  blessing. 

As  for  the  wretched  young  King  of  France,  the 
terrible  crime,  to  which  he  had  been  a  party,  weighed 
upon  his  mind  to  the  last  moment  of  his  life.  He 
survived  the  massacre  for  about  two  years ;  but  the 
recollection  of  the  scenes  of  which  he  had  been  a 
witness,  constantly  haunted  him.  He  became  restless, 
haggard,  and  miserable.  He  saw  his  murdered  guests 
sitting  by  his  side,  at  bed  and  at  board.  "Ambrose," 
said  he  to  his  confidential  physician,  "  I  know  not 
what  has  happened  to  me  these  two  or  three  days 
past,  but  I  feel  my  mind  and  body  as  much  at  enmity 
with  each  other  as  if  I  was  seized  with  a  fever.  Sleep- 
ing or  waking,  the  murdered  Huguenots  seem  ever 
present  to  my  eyes,  with  ghastly  faces,  and  weltering 
in  blood.  I  wish  the  innocent  and  helpless  had  been 
spared."  He  died  in  tortures  of  mind  impossible  to  be 
described, — attended  in  his  last  moments,  strange  to 
say,  by  a  Huguenot  physician  and  a  Huguenot  nurse  : 
one  of  the  worst  horrors  that  haunted  him  being  that 
his  own  mother  was  causing  his  death  by  slow  poison- 
ing,— an  art  in  which  he  knew  that  great  bad  woman 
to  be  fearfully  accomplished. 

To  return  to  the  surviving  Huguenots,  and  the 
measures  adopted  by  them  for  self-preservation. 
Though  they  were  at  first  stunned  by  the  massacre, 
they  were  not  slow  to  associate  themselves  together, 
in  those  districts  in  which  they  wert>  sufficiently  strong, 

5 


66  VLtG&T  AND  RESISTANCE.  CHAP.  IV. 

for  purposes  of  self-defence.  Along  the  western  sea- 
board, at  points  where  they  felt  themselves  unable  to 
make  head  against  their  persecutors,  they  put  to  sea  in 
ships  and  boats,  and  made  for  England,  where  they 
landed  in  great  numbers — at  Rye,  at  Hastings,  at 
Southampton,  and  the  numerous  other  ports  on  the 
south  coast.  This  was  particularly  the  case  with  the 
artizans  and  skilled  labour  class,  whose  means  of 
living  are  always  imperilled  by  civil  war.  These  fled 
into  England,  to  endeavour,  if  possible,  to  pursue 
their  respective  callings  in  peace,  and  to  worship  God 
according  to  conscience. 

But  the  Huguenot  nobles  and  gentry  would  not 
and  could  not  abandon  their  followers  to  destruction. 
They  gathered  together  in  their  strong  places,  and 
prepared  to  defend  themselves,  by  force  against  force. 
In  the  Cevennes,  Dauphiny,  and  other  quarters,  they 
betook  themselves  to  the  mountains  for  refuge.  In 
the  plains  of  the  south,  fifty  towns  closed  their  gates 
against  the  royal  troops.  Wherever  resistance  was 
possible,  it  showed  itself.  The  little  town  of  Sancerre 
held  out  successfully  for  ten  months,  during  which  the 
inhabitants,  without  arms,  heroically  defended  them- 
selves with  slings  called  "  the  arquebusses  of  San- 
cerre " ;  enduring  meanwhile  the  most  horrible  priva- 
tions, and  reduced  to  eat  moles,  snails,  bread  made  of 
straw  mixed  with  scraps  of  horse-harness,  and  even 
the  parchment  of  old  title-deeds. 

A  violent  attack  was  made  upon  the  Huguenot 
fortress  of  La  Rochelle  by  the  Duke  of  Anjou,the  King's 
brother, — one  of  the  principal  authors  of  the  massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew.  While  the  assassins  were  at  work 
throughout  the  country,  the  Huguenots  resorted  to 
their  towns  of  refuge.  La  Rochelle  was  one  of  these. 
Fugitives  fled  thither  from  all  quarters.  Sixteen  hun- 
dred citizens  and  1500  strangers  occupied  the  place. 

The  King  despatched  General  Biron  with  a  strong 
force  to  garrison  the  town.  It  was  too  late :  the  citi- 
zens refused  to  sdmit  him.  Hence  it  was  determined 


CHAP.  IV.  SIEGE  OF  LA  ROCHELLE.  G? 

to  attack  La  Rochelle,  and  reduce  it  to  submission. 
Towards  the  end  of  1572,  the  place  was  accordingly 
invested  by  the  royal  army,  which  continued  to  receive 
reinforcements  during  the  winter;  and  in  spring  the 
Duke  of  Anjou  arrived  and  assumed  the  chief  com- 
mand. He  was  accompanied  by  the  Duke  of  Alen<jon, 
the  Guises,  and  other  royalist  chiefs,  as  well  as  by 
Henry  of  Navarre  and  Henry  Prince  of  Conde ;  and 
the  Duke  of  Anjou  now  desired  to  show  them,  how 
speedily  and  thoroughly  he  could  root  out  this  nest  of 
piracy  and  sedition. 

La  Rochelle  was  well  provisioned  and  garrisoned. 
The  citizens  had  made  good  use  of  the  winter  months 
to  strengthen  the  ramparts,  and  improve  the  de- 
fences of  the  place.  The  besiegers  erected  forts  on 
either  side  of  the  entrance  to  the  port,  and  stationed  a 
large  vessel,  heavily  armed  with  artillery,  in  the  centre 
of  the  bay,  thus  entirely  cutting  off  all  communication 
with  the  place  by  sea. 

La  Noue,  the  commander  of  the  garrison,  was  dis- 
posed to  negotiate,  but  the  people  would  not  hear  of 
capitulation  on  any  terms.  They  knew  that  their  ad- 
miral, Jean  Sore,  and  the  Count  of  Montgomery,  were 
organizing  in  England  an  army  of  refugee  Huguenots, 
and  they  daily  expected  to  see  the  sails  of  their 
squadron  in  the  offing.  After  five  weeks'  battering 
of  the  walls,  attended  with  many  skirmishes,  the 
besiegers  determined  upon  a  general  assault.  The  first 
proved  a  total  failure.  Three  other  furious  assaults 
followed,  which  were  repulsed  with  great  loss.  Four 
times  the  Huguenot  hymn, 

"  Que  Dieu  se  montre  settlement!"* 

sounded  as  a  chant  of  triumph  from  the  towers  of  La 
Rochelle  ;  and  the  besiegers  were  driven  back  again 
and  again.  The  fourth  and  most  desperate  assault  was 
made  on  the  Bastion  de  1'Evangile,  now  occupied  as  a 
cemetery,  at  the  north-west  corner  of  the  town.  The 

1  Psalm  Ixviii. — The  Huguenot  war-song. 


68  THE  SIEGE  RAISED.  CHAP.  IV. 

Duke  of  Anjou  had  just  been  elected  King  of  Poland, 
and  he  determined  to  celebrate  the  event  by  the  cap- 
ture of  the  place.  After  a,  feu  dejoie  from  all  the  guns, 
which  were  heavily  shotted  and  pointed  at  the  bastion, 
a  breach  was  made,  and  the  troops  rushed  forward  to 
the  assault.  The  defenders  crowded  the  breach,  despe- 
rately contesting  every  inch  of  ground.  The  towns- 
people and  the  women  cheered  them  on.  The  women 
even  mounted  the  bastions  and  poured  boiling  tar 
down  on  the  assailants,  as  well  as  stink-pots,  hot  iron, 
and  showers  of  stones.  The  loss  of  life  in  the  assault 
was  dreadful.  The  Bastion  de  1'Evangile  proved  the 
cemetery  of  the  royal  army.  The  Duke  of  Nevers,  the 
Marquis  of  Mayenne,  Count  Retz,  Du  Guast  (the  Duke 
of  Anjou's  favourite),  and  many  other  distinguished 
officers,  were  more  or  less  severely  wounded.  Cosseins, 
the  captain  of  the  guard  who  superintended  the  assas- 
sination of  Admiral  Coligny,  was  one  of  the  numer- 
ous heap  of  dead  that  filled  the  breach. 

By  the  month  of  June,  20,000  royalist  troops  had 
perished,  and  the  place  was  not  yet  taken.  The  pro- 
visions of  the  besieged  began  to  run  short,  but  not 
their  courage.  An  unusual  supply  of  shell-fish  in  the 
bay  and  the  harbour,  seemed  to  them  a  supply  of  food 
from  heaven.  Their  admiral,  Jean  Sore,  appeared 
with  a  small  squadron  off  the  bay,  but  he  could  not 
force  the  entrance  to  the  harbour.  The  royal  army, 
however,  did  not  renew  the  attack.  The  Duke  of 
Anjou,  desirous  of  entering  into  possession  of  his  king- 
dom, negotiated  for  peace ;  and  a  peace  was  arranged 
on  the  24th  of  June,  1573,  by  which  the  Protestants  of 
La  Rochelle,  Nismes,  and  Montauban  were  guaranteed 
the  free  exercise  of  their  religion.  The  siege  was 
raised  three  days  later,  after  having  lasted  six  months 
and  a  half. 

The  Duke  of  Anjou  then  proceeded  to  Poland  to 
assume  the  rule  of  his  kingdom.  That  country  was 
then  in  a  wretched  state.  The  people  were  discontented; 
the  aristocracy  were  venal :  all  were  corrupt.  Their 


CHAP.  iv.  WARS  OF  THE  LEAGUE.  69 

new  king  very  soon  detested  the  country  as  well  as 
the  people.  At  length,  when  Charles  IX.,  tortured 
in  mind  and  body,  died  in  May  1574,  less  than  two 
years  after  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew,  the 
Duke  of  Anjou  suddenly  returned  to  Paris  to  assume 
the  title  of  king,  under  the  name  of  Henry  III. 

This  was  the  third  son  of  Catherine  de  Medicis' 
who  ruled  France;  but  his  reign  was  not  more 
successful  than  those  of  his  elder  brothers.  He  was 
more  bigoted  than  either  of  them;  and  though  he 
flogged  himself  in  the  public  street,  and  went  in 
procession  from  shrine  to  shrine,  yet  he  jeered  at  the 
saints  he  pretended  to  reverence.  He  turned  religion 
into  ridicule.  He  was  surrounded  by  minions  and 
favourites,  male  and  female,  and  made  his  court  a 
scene  of  debauchery. 

The  feeling  of  loyalty  was  rudely  shaken,  amongst 
Roman  Catholics  as  well  as  Huguenots.  Disgust 
took  possession  of  the  hearts  of  all  honourable  and 
religious  men.  They  saw  knighthood  covered  with 
disgrace,  and  religion  degraded  into  ridicule.  Henry  of 
Navarre,  who  had  been  detained  at  court,  virtually  a 
prisoner,  since  the  events  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Day, 
made  his  escape,  accompanied  by  the  Prince  of  Conde. 
They  abjured  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  which  had 
been  imposed  upon  them  by  Charles  IX.  under  fear  of 
assassination.  They  set  up  the  old  standard  of  freedom 
of  religion,  and  levies  flocked  to  their  support.  The 
Queen-mother  granted  another  peace.  The  worship 
of  the  Huguenots  was  permitted  in  all  parts  of  France, 
except  in  Paris ;  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew 
was  disavowed ;  and  several  additional  towns  were 
surrendered  to  the  Protestants  as  pledges  for  their 
security. 

All  this,  however,  was  most  galling  to  the  Roman 
Catholics.  They  were  still  determined  to  put  down 
the  Reformed  religion.  Accordingly,  in  1576,  a  Holy 
League  was  formed,  the  object  of  which  was  to  extir- 
pate heresy,  and  to  spare  neither  friend  nor  foe  until 


70  THE  SEVEN  CIVIL  WARS.  CHAP.  iv. 

the  pestilence  was  banished.  The  leader  of  this 
League  was  Henry  of  Guise,  son  of  that  old  Francis 
of  Guise  who  had  led  the  Royal  assassins  at  the 
massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew.  Henry's  whole  heart 
was  devoted  to  Rome.  He  was  the  most  popular 
man  in  Paris.  The  Parisians  even  hailed  him  as 
the  future  king  of  France.  "No  Protestant  king  of 
Navarre,"  they  cried :  "  we  will  have  Catholic  Henry 
of  Guise  !  " 

The  States-General  met  at  Blois,  when  the  members, 
being  bribed  or  bullied  by  the  Guises,  passed  an  edict 
interdicting  the  Huguenot  faith,  and  withdrawing  all 
the  guarantee  towns  from  their  hands.  This  amounted 
to  a  declaration  of  war.  The  King  himself  joined  the 
League,  and  instead  of  being  the  King  of  the  nation, 
degraded  himself  into  being  the  King  of  a  party. 
But  the  policy  of  the  Medicis  and  the  Guises  was  of 
a  piece  throughout. 

The  Holy  League  was  followed  by  a  dreary  and 
wasteful  succession  of  civil  wars.  The  country  was 
overrun  by  lawless  troops,  who  robbed,  burned,  and 
murdered  everywhere.  There  were  seven  civil  wars  in 
all.  One  was  called  the  "  War  of  the  Lovers,"  having 
originated  in  an  intrigue  of  the  court.  Another  was 
called  the  "War  of  the  three  Henrys,"  the  King  having 
separated  himself  from  Henry  of  Guise,  but  refused  to 
unite  with  Henry  of  Navarre.  Another  was  called  the 
"  War  of  the  Barricades,"  the  troops  of  Henry  of  Guise 
having  attacked  the  Royal  troops  (chiefly  Swiss)  in 
the  streets  of  Paris.  Henry  III.  then  fled  to  Chartres, 
leaving  Paris  in  the  possession  of  Henry  of  Guise. 

The  States  were  summoned  to  meet  at  Blois  in 
December  1588.  Henry  of  Guise  went,  at  the  earnest 
invitation  of  the  King,  to  meet  him  and  the  Queen- 
mother.  As  he  crossed  the  hall  that  led  to  the  great 
staircase,  the  King's  attendants  locked  and  barred 
the  gates.  Guise  entered  the  council-chamber,  and 
was  warming  himself  at  the  fire,  when  he  was  sent  for 
by  the  King.  Turning  aside  the  tapestry  hung  over 


CHAP.  iv.        MURDER  OF  IIEXKY  OF  GUISE.  71 

the  door,  he  was  set  upon  by  forty-five  gentlemen-in- 
waiting  armed  with  daggers,  and  fell  pierced  with 
more  than  forty  wounds.  The  royal  murderer,  issuing 
from  the  oratory  of  Catherine  de  Medicis,  came  to 
look  at  the  corpse  of  the  once  mighty  Henry  of  Guise, 
kicked  it  in  the  face  (as  Henry's  father  had  before 
kicked  the  face  of  Admiral  Coligny),  and  saying,  "  Je 
ne  le  croyais  pas  aussi  grand,"  he  ordered  the  corpse 
to  be  burnt  and  the  ashes  thrown  into  the  Loire. 

On  the  following  day,  the  Cardinal  de  Lorraine, 
brother  of  the  Duke,  was  murdered  in  another  part 
of  the  castle.  Catherine  de  Medicis  had  now  finished 
the  atrocities  of  her  life.  She  died  twelve  days  after 
the  murder  of  Henry  of  Guise ;  and  eight  months 
later,  her  son  Henry  III.  was  assassinated  by  Jacques 
Clement,  the  Dominican  monk,  in  the  camp  before 
Paris,  in  August  1589.1 

Such  was  the  end  of  the  Guises,  and  such  was  the 
end  of  Catherine  de  Medicis  and  her  sons.  They  all 
carried  on  their  foreheads  the  ineffaceable  brand  of 
the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew. 

Henry  III.  was  the  last  of  the  House  of  Valois.  At 
his  death,  Henry  of  Navarre,  by  virtue  of  his  right  as 
next  heir  to  the  crown,  succeeded  to  the  throne  of 
France,  as  Henry  the  Fourth. 

1  The  murder  of  the  Duke  of  us  ! "     Pope  Sixtus  V.  declared, 

Guise  roused  the  hostility  of  the  in  full  consistory,  that  the  action 

Papal  party.      Henry   III.  had  of  the  martyr  Jacques  Clement 

joined  Henry  of  Navarre  in  en-  might  be  compared,  as  regarded 

deavouring  to  restore  peace  to  the  safety  of  the  world,  to  the 

France.    The  compromise  proved  incarnation   and  resurrection  of 

fatal    to    him.       The    regicide,  Jesus  Christ.     "  It  was  the  policy 

Jacques    Clement,   was    canon-  of    this    Pope,"    says    Chateau- 

ized    from    all    the   pulpits    as  briand,   the    Catholic   historian, 

"  the    most     blessed    child    of  "  to  encourage  fanatics  who  were 

Dominique,  the  Holy  Martyr  of  ready  to  kill  kings  in  the  name 

Jesus  Christ."     His  portrait  was  of    the  Papal    power."   (Etudet 

placed  on  the  altars  with  these  Historiyues,  iv.  371.) 
words :  "  Saint  Jacques,  pray  for 


CHAPTER  Y. 

RELATIONS  OF  ENGLAND   WITH   FRANCE  AND   SPAIN. 

WHILE  the  rulers  of  France  and  Spain  were  making 
these  determined  efforts  to  crush  the  principles  of  the 
Reformation  in  their  dominions,  the  Protestants  of 
England  regarded  their  proceedings  with  no  small 
degree  of  apprehension  and  alarm.  They  had  them- 
selves suffered  from  sanguinary  persecutions,  during 
the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  commonly  known  as  "  the 
bloody."  Mary  had  married  Philip,  Prince  of  Spain, 
afterwards  Philip  II.,  one  of  the  cruelest  and  most 
bigoted  of  kings.  Protestant  writers  affirm  that 
about  two  hundred  and  eighty  victims  perished  at 
the  stake,  from  the  4th  of  February  1555,  when 
John  Rogers  was  burnt  at  Smithfield, — to  the  10th 
of  November  1558,  when  three  men  and  two  women 
were  burnt  at  Colchester.  Dr.  Lingard,  after  making 
every  allowance,  admits  that  "in  the  space  of  four 
years  almost  two  hundred  persons  perished  in  the 
flames  for  religious  opinion."1 

The  bond  which,  for  a  time,  united  England  to  Spain, 
had  enabled  Mary  to  engage  in  a  war  with  France, 
during  which  the  English  and  Spanish  troops  fought 
together.  The  only  result,  so  far  as  England  was 
concerned,  was  that  the  town  and  territory  of  Calais, 
which  up  to  that  time  had  been  possessed  by  England, 
were  taken  by  the  French  under  the  Duke  of  Guise  in 

1  Among  the  most  distin-  St.  David's,  Latimer  of  "Worces- 
guished  sufferers  were  Hooper,  ter,  Ridley  of  London,  and  Gran- 
bishop  of  Gloucester,  Ferrar  of  mer,  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 


CHAP.  v.     ACCESSION  OF  QUEEN  ELIZABETH.  73 

1558,  after  a  siege  of  a  few  days.  This  event,  which 
was  regarded  as  a  national  disgrace,  excited  the  bitterest 
feelings  of  dissatisfaction  throughout  the  country.  But 
towards  the  end  of  the  year  Mary  died ;  and  the  burnings 
of  heretics  and  the  defeats  of  English  soldiers  came  to 
an  end.  She  was  succeeded  by  her  half-sister  Elizabeth, 
who  completely  reversed  the  policy  which  Mary  and 
her  husband  had  adopted  in  England. 

Though  the  Reformed  faith  had  made  considerable 
progress  in  the  English  towns  at  the  period  of  Eliza- 
beth's accession  to  the  throne  in  1558,  it  was  still  in  a 
considerable  minority  throughout  the  country.1  The 
great  body  of  the  nobility,  the  landed  gentry,  and  the 
rural  population,  adhered  to  the  old  religion ;  while 
there  was  a  considerable  middle  class  of  Gallios,  who 
were  content  to  wait  the  issue  of  events  before  de- 
claring themselves  for  either  side. 

During  the  reigns  which  had  preceded  that  of 
Elizabeth,  the  country  had  been  ill-governed  and  the 
public  interests  neglected.  The  nation  was  in  debt 
and  unarmed,  with  war  raging  abroad.  But  Elizabeth's 
greatest  difficulty  consisted  in  the  fact  of  her  being  a 
Protestant,  and  the  successor  of  a  Roman  Catholic 
queen  who  had  reigned  with  undisputed  power  during 
the  five  years  which  preceded  her  accession  to  the 


Soames,  in  Ms  Elizabethan  the  mouth  of  the  Severn)  formed 

g  History,  says  that  at  the  boundary  of  their  respective 

the  accession  of  Elizabeth  two-  dominions.    The  Catholics  of  the 

thirds  of  the  people  were  Catho-  north  were  headed  by  the  great 

lies.    Butler,  in  his  Memoirs  of  families    (of    the     Percys    and 

the    Catholics,  holds    the    same  Nevilles),  and  had  on  their  side 

view.     On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  all  those  advantages  which  the 

Hallam,    in    his    ConstitutioTial  prescription   of  ages  alone  can 

History,  estimates  that  in  1559  give.     To  the  south  were  the  Pro- 

the  Protestants  were  two-thirds  testants,  who,  though  they  could 

of  the  population.  Mr.  Buckle  in-  boast  of  none  of  those  great  his- 

clines  to  the  view  that  the  Protes-  torical  names  which  reflected  a 

tants  were  still  in  the  minority.  lustre  on  their  opponents,  were 

"  Of  the  two  great  parties,"  he  supported   by  the    authority  of 

says,   "  one  occupied  the  north  the  government,  and  felt  that  en- 

and  the  other  the  south,  and  a  thusiastic  confidence  which  only 

line,  drawn  from  the  Hurnber  (to  belongs  to  a  young  religion." 


74  PERILS  OF  QUEEN  ELIZABETH.         CHAP.  v. 

throne.  No  sooner  bad  she  become  queen  than  the 
embarrassment  of  her  position  was  at  once  felt.  The 
Pope  denied  her  legitimacy,  and  refused  to  recognise 
her  authority.  The  bishops  refused  to  crown  her. 
The  two  universities  united  with  Convocation  in 
presenting  to  the  House  of  Lords  a  declaration  in 
favour  of  the  papal  supremacy.  The  King  of  France 
openly  supported  the  claim  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  to 
the  English  throne,  and  a  large  and  influential  body  of 
the  nobility  and  gentry  were  her  secret  if  not  her 
avowed  partisans. 

From  the  day  of  her  ascending  the  throne,  Eliza- 
beth was  the  almost  constant  object  of  plots  formed  to 
destroy  her,  and  thus  to  pave  the  way  for  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  the  old  religion.  Elizabeth  might  possibly 
have  escaped  from  her  difficulties  by  accepting  the  hand 
of  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  which  was  offered  her.  She 
refused,  and  determined  to  trust  to  her  people.  But 
her  enemies  were  numerous,  powerful,  and  active,  in 
conspiring  against  her  authority.  They  had  their 
emissaries  at  the  French  and  Spanish  courts,  and  at 
the  camp  of  Alva  in  the  Netherlands,  urging  the  inva- 
sion of  England  and  the  overthrow  of  the  English 
queen. 

One  of  the  circumstances  which  gave  the  most 
grievous  offence  to  the  French  and  Spanish  monarchs, 
was  the  free  asylum  which  Elizabeth  offered  in  Eng- 
land to  the  Protestants  flying  from  persecution  abroad. 
Though  these  rulers  would  not  permit  their  subjects  to 
worship  according  to  conscience  in  their  own  country, 
neither  would  they  tolerate  their  leaving  it  to  worship 
in  freedom  elsewhere.  Conformity,  not  depopulation, 
was  their  object :  conformity  by  force,  if  not  by  suasion. 
All  attempts  made  by  the  persecuted  to  leave  France 
or  Flanders  were  accordingly  interdicted.  They  were 
threatened  with  confiscation  of  their  property  and 
goods  if  they  fled,  and  with  death  if  they  remained. 
The  hearts  of  the  kings  were  hardened:  they  "would 
not  let  the  people  go !"  But  the  ocean  was  a  broad 


CHAP.  v.     THE  QUEEN  DENOUNCED  Xf  THE  POPE.     75 

and  free  road  that  could  not  be  closed ;  and  the  perse- 
cuted escaped  by  sea.  Tidings  reached  the  kings  of 
the  escape  of  their  subjects,  whom  they  had  failed 
either  to  convert  or  to  kill.  They  could  only  gnash 
their  teeth  and  utter  threats  against  the  queen  and 
the  nation  that  had  given  their  persecuted  people 
asylum. 

The  French  king  formally  demanded  that  Elizabeth 
should  banish  his  fugitive  subjects  from  her  realm  as 
rebels  and  heretics ;  but  he  was  unable  to  enforce  his 
demands,  and  the  fugitives  remained.  The  Spanish 
monarch  called  upon  the  Pope  to  interfere ;  and  he  in 
his  turn  tried  to  close  the  ports  of  England  against 
foreign  heretics.  In  a  communication  addressed  by 
him  to  Elizabeth,  the  Pope  proclaimed  the  fugitives  to 
be  "drunkards  and  sectaries" — ebriosi  et  sectarii, — 
and  declared  "  that  all  such  as  were  the  worst  of  the 
people  resorted  to  England,  and  were  by  the  Queen 
received  into  safe  protection" — ad  quam  velut  ad 
asylum  omnium  impestissimi  perfugium  invenerunt. 

The  Pope's  denunciations  of  the  refugees  were 
answered  by  Bishop  Jewell,  who  vindicated  their  cha- 
racter, and  held  them  up  as  examples  of  industry  and 
orderly  living.  "  Is  it  not  lawful,"  he  asked,  "  for  the 
Queen  to  receive  strangers  without  the  Pope's  war- 
rant ? "  Quoting  the  above-cited  Latin  passages,  he 
proceeded:  "Thus  he  speaketh  of  the  poor  exiles  of 
Flanders,  France,  and  other  countries,  who  either  lost  or 
left  behind  them  all  that  they  had — goods,  lands,  and 
houses — not  for  adultery,  or  theft,  or  treason,  but  for 
the  profession  of  the  Gospel.  It  pleased  God  here  to 
cast  them  on  land  ;  the  Queen,  of  her  gracious  pity 
hath  granted  them  harbour.  Is  it  so  heinous  a  thing 
to  show  mercy?"  The  bishop  proceeded  to  retort 
upon  the  Pope  for  harbouring  6000  usurers  and  20,000 
courtezans  in  his  own  city  of  Rome ;  and  he  desired 
to  know  whether,  if  the  Pope  was  to  be  allowed  to 
entertain  such  "  servants  of  the  devil,"  the  Queen  of 
England  was  to  be  denied  the  liberty  of  receiving  "  a 


76  PROPOSED  ASSASSINATION  OF  ELIZABETH.  CHAP.  v. 

few  servants  of  God "  ?  "  They  are,"  he  continued, 
"  our  brethren :  they  live  not  idly.  If  they  have  houses 
of  us,  they  pay  rent  for  them.  They  hold  not  our 
grounds  but  by  making  due  recompense.  They  beg 
not  in  our  streets,  nor  crave  anything  at  our  hands, 
but  to  breathe  our  air  and  to  see  our  sun.  They 
labour  truefully,  they  live  sparingly.  They  are  good 
examples  of  virtue,  travail,  faith,  and  patience.  The 
towns  in  which  they  abide  are  happy ;  for  God  doth 
follow  them  with  His  blessings."1 

When  the  French  and  Spanish  monarchs  found  that 
Elizabeth  continued  to  give  an  asylum  to  their  Protes- 
tant subjects,  they  proceeded  to  compass  her  death. 

Assassination  was  in  those  days  regarded  as  the 
readiest  method  of  getting  rid  of  an  adversary ;  and  in 
the  case  of  an  excommunicated  person,  it  was  regarded 
almost  in  the  light  of  a  religious  duty.  When  the 
Regent  Murray  (of  Scotland)  was  assassinated  by  Both- 
wellhaugh,  in  1570,  Mary  Queen  of  Scotland  gave  the 
assassin  a  pension.  Attempts  were  made  about  the 
same  time  on  the  life  of  William  of  Orange,  surnamed 
"The  Silent."  One  made  at  Mechlin,  in  1572,  proved 
a  failure ;  but  William  was  eventually  assassinated  at 
Delft,  in  1585,  by  Balthazar  Gerard,  an  avowed  agent 
of  Philip  II.  and  the  Jesuits ;  and  Philip  afterwards 
ennobled  the  family  of  the  assassin. 

In  the  meantime  Maiy,  Queen  of  Scotland,  after  her 
return  from  France,  had  assumed  the  government  of 
her  northern  subjects.  Mary  never  forgot  the  school 
of  the  Guises,  in  which  she  had  been  trained.  She 
desired  to  enforce  Popery  upon  Scotland  as  the  Guises 
had  enforced  it  upon  France.  But  under  the  spiritual 
direction  of  Knox,  the  principles  of  the  Reformation 
had  already  taken  strong  hold  of  the  minds  of  her 
Scotch  subjects.  Her  reign  was  a  reign  of  bitterness 
and  defeat.  Her  marriage  with  Both  well,  the  murderer 
of  her  second  husband,  was  the  consummation  of  her 

1  Bishop  Jenell's  \VorJa  (Parker  Society),  pp.  1148-9. 


CHAP.  v.  MART  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS.  77 

government  of  Scotland.  After  the  rout  of  her  troops 
at  Longside,  she  fled  across  the  Border  and  took 
refuge  in  England. 

Mary  gave  herself  up  a  prisoner  into  the  hands  of 
the  English  government.  She  was  confined  in  various 
castles.  When  the  French  and  Spanish  ambassadors, 
who  were  then  at  the  English  court,  were  privily  en- 
gaged in  stirring  up  discontent  against  Elizabeth,  and 
organizing  plots  against  her,  they  found  a  ready  in- 
strument in  the  Queen  of  Scots,  then  confined  in  Tut- 
bury  Castle.  Mary  was  not  held  so  strict  a  prisoner 
as  to  be  precluded  from  carrying  on  an  active  corres- 
pondence with  her  partizans  in  England  and  Scotland, 
with  the  Duke  of  Guise  and  others  in  France,  and  with 
the  Duke  of  Alva  and  Philip  II.  in  Flanders  and  Spain. 
Guilty  though  the  Queen  of  Scots  had  been  of  the 
death  of  her  husband,  the  Roman  Catholics  of  England 
regarded  her  as  their  rightful  head,  and  were  ready  to 
rise  in  arms  in  her  cause. 

Mary  was  an  inveterate  intriguer.  We  find  her  en- 
treating the  Courts  of  France  and  Spain  to  send  her 
soldiers,  artillerymen, and  arms;  and  pressing  the  king 
of  Spain  to  set  on  foot  the  invasion  of  England,  with 
the  object  of  dethroning  Elizabeth  and  restoring  the 
Roman  Catholic  faith.  Her  importunities,  as  well  as 
the  fascinations  of  her  person,  were  not.  without  their 
effect  upon  those  under  her  immediate  influence ;  and 
she  succeeded  in  inducing  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  who 
cherished  the  hope  of  becoming  her  fourth  husband, 
to  undertake  a  scheme  for  her  liberation.  A  con- 
spiracy of  the  leading  nobles  was  formed,  at  the  head 
of  which  were  the  Earls  of  Northumberland  and  West- 
moreland ;  and  in  the  autumn  of  1568  they  raised  the 
standard  of  revolt  in  the  northern  counties,  where  the 
power  of  the  Roman  Catholic  party  was  the  strongest.1 

1  "  After  having  written  to  Pope  that  a  port  should  be  seized  on 

Pius  V.,  the  Spanish  ambassador,  the  eastern  coast    of    England, 

and  the  Duke  of  Alva,  to  request  where    it    would    be    easy    to 

their  assistance,  and  to  advise  disembark    troops,  ....   they 


78      QtJEEti  ELIZABETH  EXCOMMUNICATED.      cflAP.  y 

But  the  rising  was  speedily  suppressed ;  some  of  its 
leaders  fled  into  Scotland,  and  others  into  foreign 
countries  ;  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  was  sent  to  the  Tower ; 
and  the  Queen's  authority  was  for  the  time  upheld. 

The  Pope  next  launched  against  Elizabeth  the  most 
formidable  missile  of  the  Church — a  bull  of  excommu- 
nication— in.  which  he  declared  her  to  be  cut  off,  as  the 
minister  of  iniquity,  from  the  community  of  the  faithful, 
and  forbade  her  subjects  to  recognise  her  as  their 
sovereign.  This  document  was  found  nailed  up  on  the 
Bishop  of  London's  door  on  the  morning  of  the  loth 
of  May,  1570.  The  French  and  Spanish  Courts  now 
considered  themselves  at  liberty  to  compass  the  life  of 
Elizabeth  by  assassination.  The  Cardinal  de  Lorraine, 
head  of  the  Church  in  France,  and  the  confidential 
adviser  of  the  Queen-mother,  hired  a  party  of  assassins 
in  the  course  of  the  same  year,  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
stroying Elizabeth,  because  of  the  encouragement  she 
had  given  to  Coligny  and  the  French  Huguenots. 
Again,  the  Duke  of  Alva,  in  his  correspondence  with 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots  and  the  leaders  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  party  in  England,  insisted  throughout  that 
the  first  condition  of  sending  a  Spanish  army  to  their 
assistance,  was  the  death  of  Elizabeth. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  the  Bishop  of 
Ross,  one  of  Mary's  most  zealous  partizans,  set  on  foot 
a  conspiracy  for  the  destruction  of  the  Queen.  The 
principal  agent  employed  in  communicating  with 
foreign  powers  on  the  subject  was  one  Ridolfi,  a  rich 
Florentine  banker  in  London,  director  of  the  company 

left  Brancepath  on  the  14th  of  gates  and  joined  the  rebels.   Thus 

November,  at  the  head  of  500  made  masters  of  the  town,  the  in- 

horsemen,  and  marched  towards  surgents  proceeded  to  the  cathe- 

Durham.     The  insurrection  was  dral,  burned  the  Bible,  destroyed 

entirely    Catholic.      They    had  the    Book  of    Common  Prayer, 

painted  Jesus  Christ  on  the  cross,  broke  in  pieces  the   Protestant 

with  His  five  bleeding  wounds,  communion-table,    and    restored 

upon    a   banner    borne   by  old  the    old    form    of    worship." — 

Norton,  who  was  inspired  by  the  MIGNET — History  of  Mary  Queer, 

most  religious  enthusiasm.     The  of  Scot:, 

people  of  Durham  opened  their  t 


CfiAP.  V.    PLOT  TO.  ASSASSINATE  THE  QUEEN.  79 

of  Italian  merchants,  and  an  ardent  Papist.  Minute 
instructions  were  drawn  up  and  intrusted  to  Ridolfi, 
to  be  laid  by  him  before  Pope  Pius  V.  and  Philip  II. 
of  Spain.  On  his  way  to  Rome  through  the  Low 
Countries,  he  waited  on  the  Duke  of  Alva,  and  pre- 
sented to  him  a  letter  from  Mary  Queen  of  Scots, 
beseeching  him  to  furnish  her  with  prompt  assistance, 
with  the  object  of  "  laying  all  this  island "  under 
perpetual  obligations  to  his  master  the  King  of  Spain 
as  well  as  to  herself,  as  the  faithful  executor  of  his 
commands.1 

At  Rome  Ridolfi  was  welcomed  by  the  Pope,  who 
eagerly  adopted  his  plans,  and  furnished  him  with  a 
letter  to  Philip  II.,  conjuring  that  monarch  by  his 
fervent  'piety  towards  God  to  furnish  all  the  means 
he  might  judge  most  suitable  for  carrying  them  into 
effect.  Ridolfi  next  proceeded  to  Madrid  to  hold  an 
interview  with  the  Spanish  Court,  and  arrange  for  the 
murder  of  the  English  Queen.  He  was  received  to  a 
Conference  with  the  Council  of  State,  at  which  were 
present  the  Pope's  nuncio,  the  Cardinal  Archbishop 
of  Seville  (Inquisitor-General) ;  the  Grand  Prior  of 
Castille,  the  Duke  of  Feria,  the  Prince  of  Eboli,  and 
other  high  ministers  of  Spain. 

Ridolfi  proceeded  to  lay  his  plan  for  assassinating 
Elizabeth  before  the  Council.2  He  said  "the  blow 
would  not  be  struck  in  London,  because  that  city  was 
the  stronghold  of  heresy ;  but  while  she  was  travelling." 
On  the  Council  proceeding  to  discuss  the  expediency  of 
the  proposed  murder,  the  Pope's  nuncio  at  once  under- 
took to  answer  all  objections.  The  one  sufficient  pre- 
text, he  said,  was  the  bull  of  excommunication.  The 
vicar  of  God  had  deprived  Elizabeth  of  her  throne,  and 
the  soldiers  of  the  Church  were  the  instruments  of  his 
decree  to  execute  the  sentence  of  Heaven  against  the 

Prince  Labanoff's  Collection,  fully  written  out  by  Zayas,  Secre- 
iii.  216-20.  tary  of  State,  and  are  preserved 
*  The  minutes  of  this  remark-  in  the  archives  of  Simancas  (In- 
able    meeting   of    Council   were  .  glaterra,  fol.  823). 


80  PLOTS  OF  MARY  STUART.  CHAP.  17. 

heretical  tyrant.  On  this,  one  Chapin  Vitelli,  who 
had  come  from  Flanders  to  attend  the  Council,  offered 
himself  as  the  assassin.  He  said,  if  the  matter  was 
intrusted  to  him,  he  would  take  or  kill  the  Queen.  The 
councillors  of  state  present  then  severally  stated  their 
views,  which  were  placed  on  record,  and  are  still  to  be 
seen  in  the  archives  at  Simancas. 

Philip  II.  concurred  in  the  plot,  and  professed 
himself  ready  to  undertake  the  conquest  of  England  by 
force  if  it  failed ;  but  he  suggested  that  the  Pope  should 
supply  the  necessary  money.  Philip,  however,  was  a 
man  of  hesitating  purpose  ;  and,  foreseeing  the  dangers 
of  the  enterprise,  he  delayed  embarking  in  it,  and 
eventually  resolved  to  leave  the  matter  to  the  decision 
of  the  Duke  of  Alva. 

While  these  measures  against  the  life  of  Elizabeth 
were  being  devised  abroad,  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  was 
diligently  occupied  at  Chatsworth  in  encouraging  a 
like  plot  at  home  with  the  same  object.  Lord  Burleigh, 
however,  succeeded  in  gaining  a  clue  to  the  conspiracy, 
on  which  the  principal  agents  in  England  were  appre- 
hended, and  the  Queen  was  put  upon  her  guard.  The 
Spanish  ambassador,  Don  Gerau,  being  found  in  secret 
correspondence  with  Mary,  was  warned  to  depart  the 
realm;  his  last  characteristic  act  being  to  hire  two 
bravoes  to  assassinate  Burleigh.  He  lingered  on  the 
road  to  Dover,  hoping  to  hear  that  the  deed  had  been 
done.  But  the  assassins  were  detected  in  time,  and 
instead  of  taking  Burleigh 's  life,  they  only  lost  their 
own. 

The  Protestant  party  were  from  time  to  time  thrown 
into  agonies  of  alarm  by  the  rumour  of  these  plots 
against  the  life  of  their  Queen,  and  by  the  reported 
apprehension  of  agents  of  foreign  powers  arriving  in 
England  for  the  purpose  of  stirring  up  rebellion  and 
preparing  the  way  for  the  landing  of  the  Duke  of 
Alva  and  his  army.  The  intelligence  brought  by  the 
poor  hunted  Flemings,  who  had  by  this  time  landed  in 
England  in  large  numbers,  and  settled  in  London  and 


CHAP.  v.    INDIGNATION  OF  THE  ENGLISH  NATION.    81 

the  principal  towns  of  the  south,  and  the  accounts 
which  they  spread  abroad  of  the  terrors  of  Philip's 
rule  in  the  Low  Countries,  told  plainly  enough  what 
the  English  Protestants  had  to  expect  if  the  threatened 
Spanish  invasion  succeeded. 

The  effect  of  these  proceedings  was  to  rouse  a 
general  feeling  of  indignation  against  the  foreign 
plotters  and  persecutors,  and  to  evoke  an  active  and 
energetic  public  opinion  in  support  of  the  Queen  and 
her  government.  Though  a  large  proportion  of  the 
English  people  were  in  a  great  measure  undecided 
as  to  their  faith,  their  feeling  of  nationality  was 
intense.  The  conduct  of  Elizabeth  herself  was  doubt- 
less influenced  quite  as  much  by  political  as  religious 
considerations ;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  difficulties  by 
which  she  was  surrounded,  her  policy  often  seemed 
tortuous  and  inconsistent.  The  nation  was,  indeed, 
in  one  of  the  greatest  crises  of  its  fate.  The  Queen, 
her  ministers,  and  the  nation  at  large,  every  day  more 
clearly  recognised  in  the  great  questions  at  stake,  not 
merely  the  cause  of  Protestantism  against  Popery,  but 
of  English  nationality  against  foreign  ascendency,  and 
of  resistance  to  the  threatened  yoke  of  Rome,  France, 
and  Spain. 

The  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew,  which  shortly 
followed,  exercised  a  powerful  influence  in  determining 
the  sympathies  of  the  English  people.  The  news  of 
its  occurrence  called  forth  a  general  shout  of  execra- 
tion. The  Huguenot  fugitives,  who  crowded  for  refuge 
into  the  southern  ports,  brought  with  them  accounts  of 
the  barbarities  practised  on  their  fellow-countrymen, 
which  rilled  the  national  mind  with  horror.  The 
people  would  have  willingly  rushed  into  a  war,  to 
punish  the  perfidy  and  cruelty  of  the  French  Romau 
Catholics,  but  Elizabeth  forbade  her  subjects  to  tako 
up  arms  except  on  their  own  account  as  private  volun- 
teers. 

What  the  Queen's  private  feelings  were,  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  reception  which  she  gave  to  La  Motho 


82     ST.  BARTHOLOMEW  AND  MARY  STUART.     CHAP.  V. 

Fenelon,  the  French  ambassador,  on  his  first  appear- 
ance at  Court  after  the  massacre.  For  several  days  she 
refused  to  see  him,  but  at  length  she  admitted  him  to 
an  audience.  The  lords  and  ladies  in  waiting  received 
him  in  profound  silence.  They  were  dressed  in  deep 
mourning,  and  grief  seemed  to  sit  on  every  counte- 
nance. They  did  not  deign  to  salute,  or  even  to  look 
at  the  ambassador,  as  he  advanced  towards  the  Queen, 
who  received  him  with  a  severe  and  mournful  coun- 
tenance ;  and,  stammering  out  his  odious  apology, 
he  hastened  from  her  presence.  Rarely,  if  ever,  had 
a  French  ambassador  appeared  at  a  foreign  court, 
ashamed  of  the  country  he  represented ;  but  on  this 
occasion,  La  Mothe  Fenelon  declared,  in  the  bitterness 
of  his  heart,  that  he  blushed  to  bear  the  name  of 
Frenchman. 

The  perfidious  butchery  of  the  Huguenots  excited 
the  profoundest  indignation  throughout  Scotland. 
John  Knox  denounced  it  from  the  pulpit  of  St.  Giles's. 
"  The  sentence  is  gone  forth,"  he  said,  "  against  this 
murderer,  the  King  of  France;  and  the  vengeance 
of  God  will  not  be  withdrawn  from  his  house.  His 
name  shall  be  held  in  execration  by  posterity ;  and  no 
one  who  shall  spring  from  his  loins  shall  possess  the 
kingdom  in  peace,  unless  repentance  come  to  prevent 
the  judgment  of  God." 

The  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew  most  probably 
sealed  the  fate  of  Mary  Stuart.  She  herself  rejoiced 
in  it  as  a  bold  stroke  for  the  Faith,  and,  it  might  be, 
as  the  signal  for  a  like  enterprise  on  her  own  behalf. 
Accordingly,  she  went  on  plotting  as  before;  and  in 
1581  she  was  found  engaged  in  a  conspiracy  with  the 
Duke  of  Lennox  for  the  re-establishment  of  Popery 
in  Scotland,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Jesuits.  These 
intrigues  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  at  length  became 
intolerable.  Her  repeated  and  urgent  solicitations 
to  the  King  of  Spain  to  invade  England  with  a  view 
to  the  re-establishment  of  the  old  religion — the  con- 
spiracies against  the  life  of  Elizabeth  in  which  she  was 


CHAP.  v.          EXECUTION  OF  MARY  STUART.  83 

from  time  to  time  detected1 — excited  the  vehement 
indignation  of  the  English  nation,  and  eventually  led 
to  her  trial  and  execution  ;  for  it  was  felt  that  so  long 
as  Mary  Stuart  lived,  the  life  of  the  English  Queen,  as 
well  as  the  liberties  of  the  English  people,  were  in 
constant  jeopardy. 

It  is  doubtless  easy  to  condemn  the  policy  of  Eliza- 
beth in  this  matter,  now  that  we  are  living  in  the  light 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  peacefully  enjoying  the 
freedom  won  for  us  through  the  sufferings  and  agony  of 
our  forefathers.  But,  in  judging  of  the  transactions  of 
those  times,  it  is  right  that  allowance  should  be  made 
for  the  different  moral  sense  which  then  prevailed, 
as  well  as  for  the  circumstances  amidst  which  the 
nation  carried  on  its  life-and-death  struggle  for  inde- 
pendent existence.  Right  is  still  right,  it  is  true  ; 
but  the  times  have  become  completely  changed,  and 
public  opinion  has  changed  with  them. 

In  the  meanwhile,  religious  persecutions  continued 
to  rage  abroad  with  as  much  fury  as  before  ;  and 

1  One  of  such  conspiracies  he  said,  "  with  ten  gentlemen  and 
against  the  life  of  Elizabeth  was  a  hundred  others  of  our  corn- 
that  conducted  by  John  Ballard,  pany  and  suite,  will  undertake 
a  Roman  Catholic  priest,  in  1686.  the  deliverance  of  your  royal 
The  principal  instrument  in  the  person  from  the  hands  of  your 
affair  was  one  Anthony  Babing-  enemies.  As  regards  getting 
ton,  who  had  been  for  two  years  rid  of  the  usurper,  from  subjec- 
the  intermediary  correspondent  tion  to  whom  we  are  absolved 
between  Mary  Stuart,  the  Arch-  by  the  act  of  excommunication 
bishop  of  Glasgow,  and  Paget  issued  against  her,  there  are  six 
and  Morgan,  his  co-conspirators.  gentlemen  of  quality,  all  of  them 
Ballard,  Babington,  and  the  rest  my  intimate  friends,  who,  for  the 
of  the  gang,  were  detected,  love  they  bear  to-  the  Catholic 
watched,  and  eventually  cap-  cause  and  to  your  Majesty's 
tnred  and  condemned,  through  service,  will  undertake  the  tragic 
the  vigilance  of  Elizabeth's  ever-  execution."  In  the  same  letter 
watchful  minister  Walsingham.  Babington  requested  Mary  Stuart 
Mary  had  been  kept  fully  advised  to  appoint  persons  to  act  as  her 
of  all  their  proceedings.  Bab-  lieutenants,  and  to  raise  the  popu- 
ington  wrote  to  her  in  June  1587,  lace  in  Wales,  and  in  the  counties 
explaining  the  intention  of  the  of  Lancashire,  Derby,  and  Staf- 
oonspirators,  and  enumerating  ford.  This  letter,  with  others  to 
all  the  means  for  getting  rid  of  a  like  effect,  duly  came  into  the 
Elizabeth.  "  Myself  in  person,"  possession  of  Walsinpham. 


84  'THE  SACRED  ARMADA.  CHAP.  v. 

fugitives  from  Flanders  and  France  continued  to  take 
refuge  in  England,  where  they  received  protection  and 
asylum.  Few  of  the  refugees  brought  any  property 
with  them :  the  greater  number  were  entirely  destitute. 
But  many  brought  with  them  that  kind  of  wealth 
which  money  cannot  buy — intelligence,  skill,  virtue, 
and  the  spirit  of  independence, — those  very  qualities, 
which  made  them  hateful  to  their  persecutors,  render- 
ing them  all  the  more  valuable  to  the  countries  of 
their  adoption. 

A  large  part  of  Flanders,  before  so  rich  and  so  pros- 
perous, had  by  this  time  become  reduced  almost  to  a 
state  of  desert.  The  country  was  eaten  bare  by  the 
Spanish  armies.  Wild  beasts  infested  the  abandoned 
dwellings  of  the  peasantry,  and  wolves  littered  their 
young  in  the  deserted  farmhouses.  Bruges  and  Ghent 
became  the  resort  of  thieves  and  paupers.  The  sack 
of  Antwerp  in  1585  gave  the  last  blow  to  the  stagger- 
ing industry  of  that  great  city ;  and  though  many  of 
its  best  citizens  had  already  fled  from  it  into  Holland 
and  England,  one-third  of  the  remaining  merchants 
and  workers  in  silks,  damasks,  and  other  stuffs,  shook 
the  dust  of  the  Low  Countries  from  their  feet,  and  left 
the  country  for  ever. 

Philip  of  Spain  at  length  determined  to  take 
summary  vengeance  upon  England.  He  was  master 
of  the  most  powerful  army  and  navy  in  the  world,  and 
he  believed  that  he  could  effect  by  force  what  he  had 
been  unable  to  compass  by  intrigue.  The  most  stern 
and  bigoted  of  kings,  the  great  colossus  of  the  Papacy, 
the  duly-appointed  Defender  of  the  Faith,  he  resolved, 
at  the  same  time  that  he  pursued  and  punished  his 
recreant  subjects  who  had  taken  refuge  in  England,  to 
degrade  and  expel  the  sacrilegious  occupant  of  the 
English  throne.  Accordingly,  in  1588,  he  prepared 
and  launched  his  Sacred  Armada,  one  of  the  most 
powerful  armaments  that  ever  put  to  sea.  It  con- 
sisted of  130  ships,  besides  transports,  carrying  2650 
great  guns  and  33,000  soldiers  and  sailors,  besides  180 


A  p.  v.     UNION  OF  THE  ENGLISH  PEOPLE.  85 

priests  and  monks  under  a  Vicar-General  of  the  Holy 
Inquisition.  It  was  also  furnished  with  chains  and 
instruments  of  torture,  and  with  smiths  and  mechanics 
to  set  them  to  work, — destined  for  the  punishment  of 
the  audacious  and  pestilent  heretics  who  had  so  long 
defied  the  triumphant  power  of  Spain. 

This  armament  was  to  be  joined  in  its  progress  by 
another  equally  powerful  fleet  off  the  coast  of  Flanders, 
consisting  of  an  immense  number  of  flat-bottomed 
boats,  carrying  an  army  of  100,000  men,  equipped 
with  the  best  weapons  and  materials  of  war,  who 
were  to  be  conveyed  to  the  mouth  of  the  Thames 
under  the  escort  of  the  great  Spanish  fleet. 

The  expedition  was  ably  planned.  The  Pope  blessed 
it,  and  promised  to  co-operate  with  his  money ;  pledg- 
ing himself  to  advance  a  million  of  ducats  so  soon  as 
the  expedition  reached  the  British  shores.  At  the 
same  time,  the  bull  issued  by  Pope  Pius  V.,  excom- 
municating Elizabeth  and  dispossessing  her  of  her 
throne,  was  confirmed  by  Sextus  V.,  and  re-issued 
with  additional  anathemas.  Setting  forth  under  such 
auspices,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  that  Catholic 
Europe  entertained  the  conviction  that  the  expedition 
must  necessarily  prove  successful,  and  that  Elizabeth 
and  Protestantism  in  England  were  doomed  to  inevit- 
able destruction. 

No  measure  could,  however,  have  been  better  cal- 
culated than  this  to  weld  the  English  people  of  all 
ranks  and  classes,  Catholics  as  well  as  Protestants, 
into  one  united  nation.  The  threatened  invasion  of 
England  by  a  foreign  power — above  all  by  a  power 
so  hated  as  Spain — roused  the  patriotic  feeling  of  a1.! 
classes.  There  was  a  general  rising  and  arming,  by 
land  and  by  sea.  Along  the  south  coast  the  whole 
maritime  population  arrayed  themselves  in  arms ; 
and  every  available  ship,  sloop,  and  wherry,  was 
manned  and  sent  forth  to  meet  and  fight  the 
Spaniards. 

The  result  is  matter  of  history.     The  Sacred  and 


86  PROSTRATION  OF  SPAIN.  CHAP.  v. 

Invincible  Armada  was  shattered  by  the  ships  of 
Drake,  Hawkins,  and  Howard,  and  finally  scattered 
by  the  tempests  of  the  Almighty.  The  free  asylum 
of  England  was  maintained.  The  hunted  exiles  were 
thenceforward  free  to  worship  and  to  labour  in  peace ; 
and  the  beneficent  effects  of  the  addition  of  so  many 
skilled,  industrious,  and  free-minded  men  to  our  popu- 
lation, are  felt  in  England  to  this  day. 

Philip  II.  of  Spain  died  in  1598,  the  same  year  in 
which  Henry  IV.  of  France  promulgated  the  Edict  of 
Nantes.  At  his  accession  to  the  Spanish  throne  in 
1556,  Philip  was  the  most  powerful  monarch  in 
Europe,  served  by  the  ablest  generals  and  admirals, 
with  an  immense  army  and  navy  at  his  command. 
At  his  death,  Spain  was  distracted  and  defeated,  with 
a  bankrupt  exchequer ;  Holland  was  free,  and  Flanders 
in  ruins.  The  intellect  and  energies  of  Spain  were 
prostrate ;  but  the  priests  were  paramount.  The  only 
institution  that  flourished  throughout  the  dominions 
of  Philip,  at  his  death,  was  the  Inquisition. 

Elizabeth  of  England,  on  the  other  hand,  succeeded, 
in  1558,  to  an  impoverished  kingdom,  an  empty  ex- 
chequer, and  the  government  of  a  distracted  people, 
one-half  of  whom  denied,  and  were  even  ready  to 
resist,  her  authority.  England  was  then  without  any 
weight  in  the  affairs  of  Europe.  She  had  no  army, 
and  her  navy  was  contemptible.  After  a  reign  of 
forty-five  years,  the  aspect  of  affairs  had  become  com- 
pletely changed.  The  nation  was  found  firmly  united, 
content,  free,  and  prosperous.  An  immense  impulse 
had  been  given  to  industry.  The  intellect  of  the 
people  had  become  awakened,  and  a  literature  sprang 
up  which  is  the  wonder  even  of  modern  times.  The 
power  of  England  abroad  was  everywhere  recognised. 
The  sceptre  of  the  seas  was  wrested  from.  Spain,  and 
England  thenceforward  commanded  the  high-road  to 
America  and  the  Indies. 

The  Queen  was  supported  by  able  ministers,  though 
not  more  able  than  those  who  surrounded  the  King 


CHAP.  V. 


PROGRESS  OF  ENGLAND. 


87 


of  Spain.  But  the  spirit  that  moved  them  was  wholly 
different — the  English  monarch  encouraging  freedom, 
the  Spanish  repressing  -it.  As  the  one  was  the 
founder  of  modern  England,  so  the  other  was  of 
modern  Spain. 

It  is  true,  Elizabeth  did  not  rise  to  the  high  idea 
of  complete  religious  liberty.  But  no  one  then  did — 
not  even  the  most  advanced  thinker.  Still,  the  foun- 
dations of  such  liberty  were  laid,  while  industry  was 
fostered  and  protected.  It  was  accomplishing  a  great 
deal,  to  have  accomplished  this  much.  The  rest  was  the 
work  of  time  and  experience,  and  the  action  of  free 
and  energetic  men  living  in  an  atmosphere  of  freedom. 


MEDAL  STRUCK  AT   ROME 


In  Commemoration  of  tJic  Massacre  of  St. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SETTLEMENTS  AND  INDUSTRIES   OF  THE  PEOTISTANT 
REFUGEES  IN  ENGLAND. 

IN  early  times,  the  English  were  for  the  most  part  a 
pastoral  and  agricultural,  and  not  a  manufacturing 
people.  In  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries, 
most  articles  of  clothing,  excepting  such  as  were  pro- 
duced by  ordinary  domestic  industry,  were  imported 
from  Flanders,  France,  and  Germany.1  The  great 
staple  of  England  was  Wool,  which  was  sent  abroad 
in  large  quantities.  "  The  ribs  of  all  people  through- 
out the  world,"  wrote  Matthew  Paris,  "  are  kept  warm 
by  the  fleeces  of  English  wool." 

The  wool  and  its  growers  were  on  one  side  of  the 
English  Channel,  and  the  skilled  workmen  who  dyed 
and  wove  it  into  cloth  were  on  the  other.  When  war 
broke  out,  and  communication  between  the  two  shores 

1  Besides  the  cloth  of  Flanders,  Cordova,  and  milanery  from  Mi- 
England  was  also  supplied  with  Ian.  The  Milaners  of  London 
most  of  its  finer  fabrics  from  were  a  special  class  of  general 
abroad — the  names  of  the  articles  dealers.  They  sold  not  only 
to  this  day  indicating  the  places  French  and  Flemish  cloths,  but 
where  they  were  manufactured.  Spanish  gloves  and  girdles,  Mi- 
Thus,  there  was  the  mechlin  lace  Ian  caps  and  cutlery,  silk,  lace, 
of  Mechlin,  the  duffle  of  Duffel,  needles,  pins  for  ladies'  dresses 
the  diaper  of  Ypres  (d'Ypres),  (before  which  skewers  were  used), 
the  cambric  of  Cambray,  the  ar-  swords,  knives,  daggers, brooches, 
ras  of  Arras,  the  tulle  of  Tulle,  glass,  porcelain,  and  various  arti- 
the  damask  of  Damascus,  and  cles  of  foreign  manufacture.  The 
the  dimity  of  Damietta.  Besides  name  of  "  milliner  "  (from  Mi- 
these,  we  imported  delph  ware  laner)  is  now  applied  only  to 
from  Delft,  Venetian  glass  from  dealers  in  ladies'  caps  and  bon- 
Venice,  cordovan  leather  from  nets. 


CHAP.  vi.     IMMIGRATION  OF  FLEMISH  ARTIZANS.     89 

was  interrupted,  great  distress  was  occasioned  in 
Flanders  by  the  stoppage  of  the  supply  of  English 
wool.  On  one  occasion,  when  the  export  of  wool 
from  England  was  prohibited,  the  effect  was  to  reduce 
the  manufacturing  population  throughout  the  Low- 
Countries  to  destitution  and  despair.  "  Then  might  be 
seen  throughout  Flanders,"  says  the  local  historian, 
"weavers,  fullers,  and  others  living  by  the  woollen 
manufacture,  either  begging,  or,  driven  by  debt,  tilling 
the  soil." 1 

At  the  same  time,  the  English  wool-growers  lost  the 
usual  market  for  their  produce.  It  naturally  occurred 
to  the  English  kings  that  it  would  be  of  great  advan- 
tage to  this  country  to  have  the  wool  made  into  cloth 
by  the  hands  of  their  own  people,  instead  of  sending 
it  abroad  for  the  purpose.  They  accordingly  held  out 
invitations  to  the  distressed  Flemish  artizans  to  come 
over  and  settle  in  England,  where  they  would  find 
abundant  employment  at  remunerative  wages  ;  and  as 
early  as  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  a  large  number  of 
Flemings  came  over  and  settled  in  London,  Kent, 
Norfolk,  Devon,  Somerset,  Yorkshire,  Lancashire,  and 
Westmoreland. 

The  same  policy  was  pursued  by  successive  Eng- 
lish kings,  down  to  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  who 
encouraged  skilled  artizans  of  all  kinds  to  settle  in 
England — as  armourers,  cutlers,  miners,  brewers,  and 
shipbuilders  ;  the  principal  craftsmen  employed  by  the 
court  being  Flemings  and  Germans. 

The  immigration  of  foreign  Protestants  began  in 
the  reign  of  his  successor  Edward  VI. 

The  disturbed  state  of  the  Continent  at  that  time 
had  the  effect  of  seriously  interfering  with  the  pur- 
suits of  industry;  and  in  many  of  the  German  and 
Low  Country  towns,  the  working-classes  were  begin- 
ning to  suffer  from  want  of  employment. 

The  unemployed  sought  to  remove  to  some  foreign 

1  MEYER — Annalcs  Flandria,  p.  137* 


90  IMMIGRATION  OF  FOREIGN  PROTESTANTS.  CHAP,  vi 

country  less  disturbed  by  party  strife,  in  which  they 
might  find  remunerative  employment  for  their  in- 
dustry ;  while  the  men  of  The  Religion  longed  for 
some  secure  asylum  in  which  they  might  worship 
God  according  to  conscience.  John  Bradford,  the 
Englishman,  writing  to  his  friend  Erkenwalde  Raw- 
lins,  the  Fleming,  in  1554,  advised  him  thus : — "  Go  to, 
therefore,  dispose  your  goods,  prepare  yourselves  to 
trial,  that  either  you  may  stand  to  it  like  God's  cham- 
pions, or  else,  if  you  feel  such  infirmity  in  yourselves 
that  you  are  not  able,  give  place  to  violence,  and  go 
where  you  may  with  free  and  safe  conscience  serve 
the  Lord." 

There  were  indeed  many  who  felt  themselves  want- 
ing in  the  requisite  strength  to  bear  persecution,  and 
who,  accordingly,  prepared  to  depart.  Besides,  the 
world  was  wide,  and  England  was  near  at  hand,  ready 
to  give  them  asylum.  At  first,  the  emigration  was 
comparatively  small ;  for  it  was  a  sore  trial  to  many 
to  break  up  old  connections,  to  leave  home,  country, 
and  relatives  behind,  and  begin  the  world  anew  in  a 
foreign  land.  Nevertheless,  small  bodies  of  emigrating 
Protestants  at  length  began  to  move,  dropping  down 
the  Rhine  in  boats,  and  passing  over  from  the  Dutch 
and  Flemish  ports  into  England.  Others  came  from 
Flanders  itself;  though  at  first  the  immigration  from 
that  quarter,  as  well  as  from  France,  was  of  a  very 
limited  character. 

The  foreigners  were  welcomed  on  their  arrival  in 
England,  being  generally  regarded  as  a  valuable  ad- 
dition to  the  skilled  working  classes  of  the  country. 
Thus  Latimer,  when  preaching  before  Edward  VT., 
shrewdly  observed  of  the  foreigners  persecuted  for 
conscience'  sake : — "  I  wish  that  we  could  collect  to- 
gether such  valuable  persons  in  this  kingdom,  as  it 
would  be  the  means  of  insuring  its  prosperity."  Very 
few  years  passed  before  Latimer's  wish  was  fully 
realised ;  and  there  was  scarcely  a  town  of  any  im- 
portance in  England  in  which  foreign  artizans  were 


CHAP.  VI.     PROTESTANT  FLEMINGS  IN  LONDON.  91 

not  found  settled  and  diligently  pursuing  their  re- 
spective callings. 

The  immigration  of  the  Protestant  Flemings  in 
Edward  VI. 's  reign  was  already  so  considerable,  that 
the  King  gave  them  the  church  in  Austin  Friars,  Broad 
Street,  "  to  have  their  service  in,  and  for  avoiding  all 
sects  of  anabaptists  and  the  like."  The  influx  con- 
tinued at  such  a  rate  as  to  interfere  with  the  employ- 
ment of  the  native  population,  who  occasionally  showed 
a  disposition  to  riot,  and  even  to  expel  the  foreigners 
by  violence.  In  a  letter  written  by  Francis  Peyto  to 
the  Earl  of  Warwick,  then  at  Rome,  the  following 
passage  occurs: — "Five  or  six  hundred  men  waited 
upon  the  mayor  and  aldermen,  complaining  of  the  late 
influx  of  strangers,  and  that,  by  reason  of  the  great 
dearth,  they  cannot  live  for  these  strangers,  whom 
they  were  determined  to  kill  up  through  the  realm  if 
they  found  no  remedy.  To  pacify  them,  the  mayor 
and  aldermen  caused  an  esteame  to  be  made  of  all 
strangers  in  London,  which  showed  an  amount  of 
forty  thousand,  besides  women  and  children,  for  the 
most  part  heretics  fled  out  of  other  countries." l  Al- 
though this  estimate  was  probably  a  gross  exaggera- 
tion, there  can  be  no  doubt  that  by  this  time  a  large 
number  of  the  exiles  had  arrived  and  settled  in  London 
and  other  English  towns. 

The  influx  of  the  persecuted  Protestants,  however, 
did  not  fully  set  in  until  about  ten  years  later,  about 
the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  The  fugitives, 
in  the  extremities  to  which/ they  were  reduced,  naturally 
made  for  that  part  of  the  English  coast  which  lay  the 
nearest  to  Flanders  and  France.  In  1561,  a  consider- 
able body  of  Flemings  landed  near  Deal,  and  subse- 
quently settled  at  the  then  decayed  town  of  Sandwich. 
The  Queen  was  no  sooner  informed  of  their  landing, 
than  she  wrote  to  the  mayor,  jurats,  and  commonalty 
of  the  burgh,  enjoining  them  to  give  liberty  to  the 

1  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Foreign  Series,  1547-53. 


92  IMMIGR ATION  OF FLEMINGS  AND  F£EXCH.ttl±?.  vi. 

foreigners  to  settle  there  and  carry  on  their  respective 
trades.  She  recommended  the  measure  as  calculated 
to  greatly  benefit  the  town  by  "  plantynge  in  the  same 
men  of  knowledge  in  sundry  handycrafts,"  in  which 
they  "  were  very  skilful";  and  her  Majesty  more  par- 
ticularly enjoined  that  the  trades  the  foreign  artizans 
were  to  carry  on  were  "  the  makinge  of  say s,  bays,  and 
other  cloth,  which  hath  not  been  used  to  be  made  in 
this  our  realme  of  Englonde." 

Other  landings  of  Flemings  took  place  about  the 
same  time,  at  Harwich,  at  Yarmouth,  at  Dover,  and 
other  towns  on  the  south-east  coast.  Some  settled  at 
the  places  where  they  had  landed,  and  began  to  pursue 
their  several  branches  of  industry  ;  whilst  others  pro- 
ceeded to  London,  Norwich,  Maidstone,  Canterbury, 
and  other  inland  towns,  where  the  local  authorities 
gave  them  protection  and  succour. 

The  year  after  the  arrival  of  the  Flemings  at  Sand- 
wich, the  inhabitants  of  the  little  seaport  of  Rye,  on 
the  coast  of  Sussex,  were  thrown  into  a  state  of  com- 
motion by  the  sudden  arrival  of  a  number  of  destitute 
French  people  from  the  opposite  coast.  Some  came 
in  open  boats,  others  in  sailing-vessels.  They  were  of 
all  classes  and  conditions,  and  amongst  them  were 
many  women  and  children.  They  had  fled  from 
their  own  country  in  great  haste,  and  were  nearly 
all  alike  destitute.  Some  crossed  the  Channel  in 
midwinter,  braving  the  stormiest  weather;  and 
when  they  reached  the  English  shore  they  would 
often  fall  upon  their  knees  and  thank  God  for  their 
deliverance. 

In  May  1562,  we  find  John  Young,  mayor  of  Rye, 
writing  to  Sir  William  Cecil,  the  Queen's  chief  secre- 
tary, as  follows : — "  May  it  please  your  honour,  there  is 
daily  great  resort  of  Frenchmen  here,  insomuch  as 
already  there  is  esteemed  to  be  500  persons ;  and  we 
be  in  great  want  of  corn  for  their  and  our  sustentation, 
by  reason  the  country  adjoining  is  barren.  .  .  .  Also 
may  it  please  your  honour,  after  night  and  this  day  is 


CHAP,  vi,     LANDING  OF  FUGITIVES  AT  RTE.  93 

come  two  shippis  of  Dieppe  into  this  haven,  full  of 
many  people."  l 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Rye  is  situated  at  the 
south-western  extremity  of  the  great  Romney  Marsh  ; 
and  as  no  corn  is  grown  in  that  neighbourhood,  the 
wheat  consumed  in  the  place  was  all  brought  thither 
by  sea,  or  from  a  distance  inland,  over  the  then  almost 
impassable  roads  of  Sussex.  The  townspeople  of  Rye 
nevertheless  bestirred  themselves  in  aid  of  the  poor 
refugees.  They  took  them  into  their  houses,  fed  them, 
and  supplied  their  wants  as  well  as  they  could ;  but 
the  fugitives  continued  to  arrive  in  such  numbers  that 
the  provisions  of  the  place  soon  began  to  run  short. 

These  landings  continued  during  the  summer  of 
1562  ;  and  even  as  late  as  November  the  mayor  again 
wrote  to  Cecil:  "May  it  please  your  honour  to  be 
advertised  that  the  third  day  of  the  present  month,  at 
twelve  of  the  clocke,  there  arrived  a  bote  from  Dieppe, 
with  Frenchmen,  women,  and  children,  to  the  number 
of  a  hundred  and  fiftye,  there  being  a  great  number 
also  which  were  here  before."  And  as  late  as  the  10th 
of  December,  the  French  people  still  flying  for  refuge, 
though  winter  had  already  set  in  severely,  the  mayor 
again  wrote  that  another  boat  had  arrived  with  "  many 
poor  people,  as  well  men  and  women  as  children,  which 
were  of  Rouen  and  Dieppe." 

Six  years  passed,  and  again,  in  1568,  we  find  another 
boat-load  of  fugitives  from  France  landing  at  Rye: 
"  Monsieur  Gamayes,  with  his  wife  and  children  and 
ten  strangers ;  and  Captain  Sowes,  with  his  wife  and 
two  servants,  who  had  all  come  out  of  France,  as  they 
said,  for  the  safeguard  of  their  lives."  Four  years  later, 
in  1572,  tfcere  was  a  further  influx  of  refugees  at  Rye, 
— the  mayor  again  writing  to  Lord  Bnrleigh,  informing 
him  that  between  the  27th  of  August  and  the  4th  of 
November  no  fewer  than  641  had  landed.  The  records 
have  been  preserved  of  the  names  and  callings  of  most 

1  Dcincstlc  State  Papers— Elizabeth,  1562.    No.  35. 


94  INFLUX  OF  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES.    CHAP.  vi. 

of  the  immigrants ;  from  which  it  appears  that  they 
were  of  all  ranks  and  conditions,  including  gentlemen, 
merchants,  doctors  of  physic,  ministers  of  religion, 
students,  schoolmasters,  tradesmen,  mechanics,  artizans, 
shipwrights,  mariners,  and  labourers.  Among  the 
fugitives  were  also  several  widows,  who  had  fled  with 
their  children  across  the  sixty  miles  of  sea  which  there 
divide  France  from  England,  sometimes  by  night  in  open 
boats,  braving  the  fury  of  the  winds  and  waves  in 
their  eagerness  to  escape.1 

The  mayor  of  Rye  made  appeals  to  the  Queen  for 
help,  and  especially  for  provisions,  which  from  time 
to  time  ran  short;  and  the  help  was  at  once  given. 
Collections  were  made  for  the  relief  of  the  destitute 
refugees  in  many  of  the  churches  in  England,  as  well 
as  in  Scotland;2  and,  among  others,  we  find  the 
refugee  Flemings  at  Sandwich  giving  out  of  their 
slender  means  "  a  benefaction  to  the  poor  Frenchmen 
who  have  left  their  country  for  conscience'  sake."  3 

The  landings  continued  for  many  years.  The  people 
came  flying  from  various  parts  of  France  and  Flanders 
— cloth-makers  from  Antwerp  and  Bruges,  lace-makers 
from  Valenciennes,  cambric-makers  from  Cambray, 
glass-makers  from  Paris,  stuff-weavers  from  Meaux, 
merchants  and  tradesmen  from  Rouen,  and  shipwrights 
and  mariners  from  Dieppe  and  Havre.  As  the  fugi- 
tives continued  to  land,  they  were  sent  inland  as 
speedily  as  possible,  to  make  room  for  new-comers, — the 
household  accommodation  of  the  little  towns  along  the 
English  coast  being  but  limited.  From  Rye,  many 
proceeded  to  London  to  join  their  countrymen  who 
had  settled  there  ;  others  went  forward  to  Canterbury, 
to  Southampton,  to  Norwich,  and  the  other  towns 


1  W.     DTTRRANT     COOPER  —  raised    in   Scotland   for  French 
Sussex  Archalogical  Collections,  Protestants  in   indigent  circum- 
Tol.  xiii.  p.  179:  "  The  Protestant  stances,  in  1575  ;  and  Calderwood 
Refugees  in  Sussex."  has  a  similar  notice  in  1622. 

2  James  Melville,  in  his  diary,  Borough   Records  of    Sand- 
mentions  that  subscriptions  were  wich,  1572. 


CHAP.  vi.   IMMIGRANTS  AT  DOVER  AND  SANDWICH.    95 

where  Walloon  congregations  had  already  been  estab- 
lished. A  body  of  them  settled  at  Winchelsea,  an 
ancient  town,  formerly  of  much  importance  on  the 
south  coast,  though  now  left  high  and  dry  inland.1 

Many  fugitives  also  landed  at  Dover,  which  was  a 
convenient  point  for  both  France  and  Flanders.  Some 
of  the  immigrants  passed  through  to  Canterbury  and 
London,  while  others  settled  permanently  in  the  place. 
Early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  a  census  was  taken 
of  the  foreigners  residing  in  Dover,  when  it  was  found 
that  there  were  seventy-eight  persons  "  which  of  late 
came  out  of  France  by  reason  of  the  troubles  there." 
The  description  of  them  is  interesting,  as  showing 
the  classes  to  which  the  exiles  principally  belonged. 
There  were  two  "  preachers  of  God's  Word " ;  three 
physicians  and  surgeons;  two  advocates;  two  esquires; 
three  merchants ;  two  schoolmasters  ;  thirteen  drapers, 
grocers,  brewers,  butchers,  and  other  trades ;  twelve 
mariners;  eight  weavers  and  wool-combers;  twenty- 
five  widows,  "  makers  of  bone-lace  and  spinners " ; 
two  maidens ;  one  woman,  designated  as  the  wife  of  a 
shepherd;  one  button-maker;  one  gardener;  and  one 
undescribed  male.2  There  were  at  the  same  time 
settled  in  Dover  thirteen  Walloon  exiles,  of  whom  five 
were  merchants,  three  mariners,  and  the  others  of 
different  trades. 

In  the  meantime,  the  body  of  Flemings  who  had 
first  settled  at  Sandwich  began  to  show  signs  of  con- 
siderable prosperity.  The  local  authorities  had  readily 
responded  to  the  wishes  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  did 
what  she  required.  They  appointed  two  markets  to 
be  held  weekly  for  the  sale  of  their  cloths,  in  the  making 

1  Winchelsea,  now  a  village  al-  with    their    broadsides    to    the 

most  in  ruins,  was  once  a  flourish-  shore.     The  place  is  now  some 

ing  seaport.     The  remains  of  the  miles  from  the  sea,  and  sheep 

vaults  and  warehouses  where  the  and  cattle    graze  over   a  wide 

merchants'  goods  were  stored  are  extent  of  marsh-land,  over  which 

still  pointed  out,  and  the  wharves  the  tide  formerly  flowed, 

may   still  be  seen  where   ships  2  Dam.  Col. — James  I.,  1622. 
discharged  their  cargoes,  lying 


96  PROSPERITY  OF  SANDWICH.  CHAP.  vi. 

of  which  we  very  shortly  find  them  busily  occupied. 
"When  Archbishop  Parker  visited  Sandwich,  in  1563, 
he  took  notice  of  "  the  French  and  Dutch e,  or  both," 
who  had  settled  in  the  town,  and  wrote  to  a  friend  at 
court  that  the  refugees  were  as  godly  on  the  Sabbath- 
days  as  they  were  industrious  on  week-days ;  obser- 
ving that  such  "  profitable  and  gentle  strangers  ought 
to  be  welcome,  and  not  to  be  grudged  at." l 

Before  the  arrival  of  the  Flemings,  Sandwich  had 
been  a  poor  and  decayed  place.  It  was  originally  a 
town  of  considerable  importance,  and  one  of  the  Cinque 
Ports.  But  when  the  river  Stour  became  choked  with 
silt,  the  navigation,  on  which  it  had  before  depended, 
was  so  seriously  impeded,  that  its  trade  soon  fell  into 
decay,  and  the  inhabitants  were  reduced  to  great 
poverty.  No  sooner,  however,  had  the  first  colony  of 
Flemings,  above  four  hundred  in  number,  settled  there 
under  the  Queen's  protection,  than  the  empty  houses 
were  occupied,  the  town  became  instinct  with  new  life, 
and  was  more  than  restored  to  its  foi'mer  importance. 
The  artizans  set  up  their  looms,  and  began  to  work  at 
the  manufacture  of  sayes,  bayes,  and  other  kinds  of 
cloth,  which  met  with  a  ready  sale;  the  London 
merchants  resorting  to  the  bi-weekly  markets,  and 
buying  up  the  goods  at  remunerative  prices. 

The  native  population  also  shared  in  the  general 
prosperity — learning  from  the  strangers  the  art  of 
cloth-making,  and  becoming  competitors  with  them  for 
the  trade.  Indeed,  before  many  years  had  passed,  the 
townspeople,  forgetful  of  the  benefits  they  owed  to  the 
foreign  artizans,  became  jealous,  and  sought  to  impose 
upon  them  special  local  taxes.  On  this  the  Flemings 
memorialised  the  Queen,2  who  again  stood  their  friend  ; 


1  Strype's  Parker,  p.  1 39.  foreign  settlers)  is  suche,  that  by 

*  The  memorial,  which  is  still  means  of    their  chardges   they 

preserved  amongst  the  town  re-  should  finally  be  secluded  and 

cords,  concludes  with  the  follow-  syndered  from    the  liability  of 

ing  prayer  : — "  Which  condition  those  manifolde   and    necessary 

(viz.  the  local  imposition  on  the  contributions  which  yet  in  this 


CHAP.  VI.        NEW  INDUSTRIES  1NTHODVCED.  97 

and,  on  her  intercession,  the  corporation  were  at  length 
induced  to  relieve  them  of  the  unjust  burden.  At  that 
time  they  constituted  about  one-third  of  the  entire 
population  of  the  town ;  and  when  Elizabeth  visited 
Sandwich  in  1573,  it  is  recorded  that  "against  the 
school-house,  upon  the  new  turfed  wall,  and  upon  a 
scaffold  made  upon  the  wall  of  the  school-house  yard, 
were  divers  children,  to  the  number  of  a  hundred  or 
six  score,  all  spinning  of  fine  bag  yarn,  a  thing  well 
liked  both  of  Her  Majesty  and  of  the  Nobility  and 
Ladies." l 

The  Protestant  exiles  at  Sandwich  did  not,  how- 
ever, confine  themselves  to  cloth-making,2  but  engaged 
in  various  other  branches  of  industry.  Some  of  them 
were  millers,  who  erected  the  first  windmills  near  the 
town,  in  which  they  plied  their  trade.  Two  potters 
from  Delft  began  the  pottery  manufacture.  Others 
were  smiths,  brewers,  hat-makers,  carpenters,  or  ship- 
wrights. Thus  trade  and  population  increased;  new 
buildings  arose  on  all  sides,  until  Sandwich  became 
almost  transformed  into  a  Flemish  town ;  and  to  this 
day,  though  fallen  again  into  comparative  decay,  the 
quaint,  foreign-looking  aspect  of  the  place  never  fails  to 
strike  the  visitor  with  surprise. 

Among  other  branches  of  industry  introduced  by  the 
Flemings  at  Sandwich,  that  of  gardening  is  worthy 

our  exile  are  practised  amongst  favour  and  consolation  to   the 

us,  as  well  towards  the  mainten-  poore    afflicted   straungers.  "  — 

ance  of  the  ministry  of    God's  BOYS'  History  of  Sandwich,  p. 

word  as  lykewise  in  the  sustenta-  744. 

tion  of  our  poore,  besydes  the  l  Antiquarian  Repertory,  iv. 

chardges  first  above  rehearsed:  65. 

pcrformyng  therefore   our  fore-  *  The  principal  trades  which 

sayde  humble  petition,  we  shall  they    followed    were   connected 

be  the  more  moved  to  directe  our  with  the  manufacture  of  cloths 

warmest  prayers  to  our  mercyfull  of  different  kinds.     Thus,  of  351 

God,  that  of  his  heavenly  grace  Flemish  householders  resident  in 

he    will   beatify   your  common  Sandwich  in  1582,  86  were  bay- 

weall  more  and  more,  grauntynge  makers, 74  bay-weavers,  17 fullers, 

to  ytt  his  spiritual  and  temporal  24  linsey-wolsey  weavers,  and  24 

blessyngs,  which  he  gracefully  wool-combers, 
powreth  uppon  them  that  showe 


98  FLEMISH  GARDEtfERS.  CHAP,  vl 

of  notice.  The  people  of  Flanders  had  long  been 
famous  for  their  horticulture ;  and  one  of  the  first 
things  which  the  foreign  settlers  did,  on  arriving  in 
the  place,  was  to  turn  to  account  the  excellent  qualities 
of  the  soil  in  the  neighbourhood.  Though  long  before 
practised  by  the  monks,  Gardening  had  become  almost 
a  lost  art  in  England.  It  is  said  that  Katherine, 
Queen  of  Henry  VIII.,  unable  to  obtain  a  salad  for 
her  dinner  in  England,  had  her  table  supplied  from 
the  Low  Countries.1  The  first  Flemish  gardens  proved 
highly  successful.  The  cabbage,  carrots,  and  celery 
produced  by  the  foreigners  met  with  so  ready  a  sale, 
and  were  so  much  in  demand  in  London  itself,  that  a 
body  of  gardeners  shortly  after  removed  from  Sandwich 
and  settled  at  Wandsworth,  Battersea,  and  Bermondsey, 
where  many  of  the  rich  garden-grounds  first  planted 
by  the  Flemings,  still  continue  to  be  the  most  produc- 
tive in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  metropolis. 

It  is  also  supposed,  though  it  cannot  be  exactly  as- 
certained, that  the  Protestant  Walloons  introduced  the 
cultivation  of  the  hop  in  Kent,  bringing  slips  of  the 
plant  with  them  from  Artois.  The  old  distich — 

"  Hops,  Eeformation,  Bays,  and  Beer, 
Came  into  England  all  in  one  year  "— 

marks  the  period  (about  1524)  when  the  first  English 
hops  were  planted.  There  is  a  plot  of  land  at  Bourne, 
near  Canterbury,  where  there  is  known  to  have  been 

1  Vegetables  were  formerly  so  by  the  purveyor  for  the  Clifford 

scarce    that    they    were    salted  family  (WHITAKER — History  of 

down.     Even  in   the  sixteenth  Craven,  321).     Hartlib,  writing 

century,  a  cabbage  from  Holland  in  1 650,  says  that  an  old  man 

was  deemed  an  acceptable  pre-  then    living    remembered   "  the 

sent  (Fox's  Life  of  James  II.,  first  gardener  who    came  into 

205).     Hull  then  carried  on  a  Surrey  to    plant  cabbages. and 

thriving    import-trade    in    cab-  cauliflowers,  and  to  sow  turnips, 

bages  and  onions.    The  rarity  of  carrots,  and  parsnips,  and  to  sow 

vegetables  in  the  country  may  be  early  pease — all  of  which  at  that 

inferred  from  the  fact,  that   in  time    were  great    wonders,    we 

1595    a  sum    equal    to    twenty  having  few  or  none  in  England 

shillings  was  paid  at  that  port  for  but  what  came    from  Holland 

eix  cabbages  and  a  few  carrots  or  Flanders." 


CMA1>.  Vi.      PROTESTANT  EXILES  IN  LONDON.  09 

a  hop-plantation  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.1  Another 
kind  of  crop  introduced  by  the  Flemings  at  Sandwich 
was  canary-grass,  which  still  continues  to  be  grown  on 
the  neighbouring  farms,  and  is  indeed  almost  peculiar 
to  the  district. 

As  might  naturally  be  expected,  by  far  the  largest 
proportion  of  the  Protestant  exiles  —  Flemish  and 
French — settled  in  London  : — London,  the  world's 
asylum — the  refuge  of  the  persecuted  of  all  lands, 
whether  for  race,  or  politics,  or  religion — a  city  of 
Celts,  Danes,  and  Saxons — of  Jews,  Germans,  French, 
and  Flemings,  as  well  as  of  English — an  aggregate  of 
men  of  all  European  countries,  and  probably  one  of 
the  most  composite  populations  to  be  found  in  the 
Avorld.  Large  numbers  of  French,  Germans,  and 
Flemings,  of  the  industrious  classes,  had  already 
taken  refuge  in  London  from  the  political  troubles 
which  had  prevailed  abroad.  About  the  beginning  of 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  so  many  foreigners  had 
settled  in  the  western  parts  of  the  metropolis,  that 
"  Tottenham  is  turned  French"  passed  into  a  proverb; 
and  now  the  religious  persecutions  which  raged  abroad, 
compelled  foreigners  of  various  nations  to  take  refuge 
in  London,  in  still  greater  numbers  than  they  had  done 
at  any  former  period. 

Fortunately  for  London,  as  for  England,  the  men 
who  fled  thither  for  refuge  were  not  idle,  dissolute, 
and  ignorant;  but  peaceable,  gentle,  and  laborious. 
Though  they  were  poor,  they  were  not  pauperised, 
but  thrifty  and  self-helping,  and  above  all  things 
eager  in  their  desire  to  earn  an  honest  living.  They 
were  among  the  most  skilled  and  intelligent  inhabit- 
ants of  the  countries  which  had  driven  them  forth. 
Had  they  been  weak  men,  they  would  have  gone  with 

1  Reginald  Scot,  the  author  of  "ostes    at    Peppering"    as    "a 

The    Pcrfite    Platforme    of     a  profytable  patterne  and  a  neccs- 

Ihtppe    Garden,  speaks  of  "  the  sarie  instruction  for  as  maiiie  as 

trade   of  the    Flemminge "  (i.e.  shall  hare  to  doc  therein." 
his  method  of  culture),  and  his 


100  THE  FLEMINGS  IN  SOUTH W ARK.       CHAP.  vi. 

the  stream  as  others  did,  and  conformed  ;  but  they 
were  men  with  convictions,  earnest  for  the  truth, 
and  ready  to  sacrifice  their  worldly  goods  and  every- 
thing else  to  follow  it. 

Of  the  Flemings  and  French  who  settled  in  London, 
the  greater  number  congregated  in  special  districts,  for 
the  convenience  of  carrying  on  their  trades  together. 
Thus  a  large  number  of  the  Flemings  settled  in  South- 
warkandBermondsey,1  where  they  began  many  branches 
of  industry  which  continue  to  this  day — Southwark 
being  still  the  principal  manufacturing  district  of 
London.  There  was  a  quarter  in  Bermondsey,  known 
as  "  The  Borgeney,"  or  "  Petty  Burgundy,"  because 
of  the  foreigners  who  inhabited  it.  Joiners'  Street, 
which  still  exists  in  name,  lay  in  the  district,  and  was 
so  called  because  of  its  being  almost  wholly  occupied 
by  Flemish  joiners,  who  were  skilled  in  all  kinds  of 
carpentry.  Another  branch  of  trade  begun  by  the 
Flemings  in  Bermondsey,  was  the  manufacture  of  felts 
or  hats.  Tanneries  and  breweries  were  also  started 
by  them,  and  carried  on  with  great  success.  Henry 
Leek,  originally  Hoek  or  Hook,2  from  Wesel,  was  one 
of  the  principal  brewers  of  his  time,  to  whose  philan- 
thropic bequest  Southwark  owes  the  foundation  of  the 
excellent  free  school  of  St.  Olave's — one  of  the  best  of 
its  class. 

Another  important  settlement  of  the  Flemings  was 
at  Bow,  where  they  established  dye-works  on  a 
large  scale.  Before  their  time,  white  cloth  of  English 
manufacture  was  usually  sent  abroad  to  be  dyed,  after 


1  The  Flemish  burying-ground,  them  amidst  the  population  in 
appropriated  to  the  foreigners  as  which  they  have  become  merged. 
a  place  of  sepulture,  was  situated  Thus,  in  the  parish  church  of 
near  the  south  end  of  London  Allhallows,  Barking,  we  find  the 
Bridge.     It  is  now  covered  by  monument    of    a  distinguished 
the  approaches  to  the   London  Fleming,  one  Roger  Haestrecht, 
Bridge  Railway  Station.  who  changed  his  name  to  James. 

2  Many  of  the  foreigners  adop-  He  was  the  founder  of  the  family 
ted  names  of  English  sound,  so  of  James,  of  Ightham  Court,  in 
that  it  is  now  difficult  to  trace  Kent. 


CHAP.  vi.  FLEMISH  MANUFACTURES.  101 

which  it  was  reimported  and  sold  as  Flemish  cloth. 
The  best  known  among  the  early  dyers,  were  Peter  de 
Croix  and  Dr.  Kepler,  the  latter  of  whom  established 
the  first  dye-work  in  England ;  and  cloth  of  "  Bow 
dye  "  soon  became  famous. 

Another  body  of  the  refugees  settled  at  Wands- 
worth,  and  began  several  branches  of  industry — such 
as  the  manufacture  of  felts,  and  the  making  of  brass 
plates  for  culinary  utensils — which,  Aubrey  says,  they 
"  kept  a  mystery."  One  Fromantel  introduced  the 
manufacture  of  pendulum  or  Dutch  clocks,  which 
shortly  came  into  use.  At  Mortlake,  the  French 
exiles  began  the  manufacture  of  arras,  and  at  Fulham 
of  tapestry.  The  art  of  printing  paperhangings  was 
introduced  by  some  artizans  from  Rouen,  where  it  had 
been  originally  practised  ;  and  many  other  skilled 
workers  in  metal  settled  in  different  parts  of  the 
metropolis — such  as  cutlers,  jewellers,  and  makers  of 
mathematical  instruments,  in  which  the  French  and 
Flemish  workmen  then  greatly  excelled.1 

The  employment  given  to  the  foreign  artizans  seems 
to  have  excited  considerable  discontent  amongst  the 
London  tradesmen,  who,  from  time  to  time,  beseeched 
the  interference  of  the  corporations  and  of  Parliament. 
Thus,  in  1576,  we  find  the  London  shoemakers  peti- 
tioning for  a  commission  of  inquiry  as  to  the  alien 
shoemakers  who  were  carrying  on  their  trade  in  the 
metropolis.  Tn  1586,  the  London  apprentices  raised 
a  riot  in  the  city  against  the  foreigners ;  and  several 
youths  of  the  Plaisterers'  Company  were  apprehended 
and  committed  to  Newgate  by  order  of  the  Queen  and 
council.  A  few  years  later,  in  1592,  the  London  free- 
men and  shopkeepers  complained  to  Parliament  that 

1  A    French    refugee,    named  after  his  time,  in  the  reign  of 

Briot,  was  the  first  to  introduce  Charles  II.,  another  Frenchman, 

the  coining-press,  which  was  a  named  Blondeau,  was  selected  to 

French  invention,  into  England.  superintend  the  stamping  of  our 

He  was  appointed  chief  engraver  English  money. 
to  the   Mint :    and  forty  years 


102  FOREIGN  CITY  MERCHANTS.  CHAP,  n 

the  strangers  were  spoiling  their  trades;  and  a  bill 
was  brought  in  for  the  purpose  of  restraining  them. 
The  bill  was  strongly  supported  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
who  complained  bitterly  of  the  strangers ;  but  it  was 
opposed  by  Cecil  and  the  Queen's  ministers;  and 
though  it  passed  the  Commons,  it  failed  through  the 
dissolution  of  Parliament — so  that  the  refugees  were 
left  to  the  enjoyment  of  their  former  protection  and 
hospitality. 

Many  of  the  foreigners  established  themselves  as 
merchants  in  the  city,  and  soon  became  known  as 
leading  men  in  commercial  affairs.  Several  of  them 
had  already  been  distinguished  as  merchants  in  their 
own  country ;  and  they  brought  with  them  a  spirit 
and  enterprise  which  infused  quite  a  new  life  into 
London  business.  Among  the  leading  foreign  mer- 
chants of  Elizabeth's  time  we  recognise  the  names 
of  Houblon,  Palavicino,  De  Malines,  Corsellis,  Van 
Peine,  Tryan,  Buskell,  Corsirii,  De  Best,  and  Cotett. 
That  they  prospered  by  the  exercise  of  their  respec- 
tive callings,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  when, 
in  1588,  Queen  Elizabeth  proceeded  to  raise  a  loan  in 
the  city  by  voluntary  subscriptions,  thirty-eight  of  the 
foreign  merchants  subscribed  £5000,  in  sums  of  £100 
and  upwards. 

The  accounts  given  of  the  numbers  of  the  exiles 
from  Flanders  and  France  who  settled  in  London,  are 
very  imperfect ;  yet  they  enable  us  to  form  some  idea 
of  the  extensive  character  of  the  immigration.  Thus, 
a  return  of  the  population,  made  in  1571,  the  year 
before  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  shows  that 
in  the  city  of  London  alone  (exclusive  of  the  large 
number  of  strangers  settled  in  South wark,  at  Bow,  and 
outside  the  liberties)  there  were,  of  foreigners  belong- 
ing to  the  English  church,  889 ;  to  the  Dutch,  French, 
and  Italian  churches,  1763 ;  certified  by  their  elders, 
but  not  presented  by  the  wards,  1828;  not  yet  joined 
to  any  particular  church,  2663 ;  "  strangers  that  do 
confesse  themselves  that  their  comyng  hether  was 


CHAP.  vi.     AMOUNT  OF  FOREIGNERS  IN  LONDON.      103 

onlie  to  seek  worck  for  their  lyvinge,"  2561 ;  or  a 
total  of  9704  persons.1  From  another  return  of 
about  the  same  date,  in  which  the  numbers  are  dif- 
ferently given,  we  obtain  some  idea  of  the  respective 
nationalities  of  the  refugees.  Out  of  the  4594 
strangers  then  returned  as  resident  in  the  city  of 
London,  3643  are  described  as  Dutch  (i.e.  Flemings) ; 
657  French ;  233  Italians ;  and  53  Spaniards  and 
Portuguese.2 

That  the  foreign  artizans  continued  to  resort  to  Eng- 
land in  increasing  numbers  is  apparent  from  a  further 
census  taken  in  1621,  from  which  it  appears  that  there 
were  then  10,000  strangers  in  the  city  of  London  alon'e 
(besides  still  larger  numbers  in  the  suburbs),  carry- 
ing on  121  different  trades.  Of  1343  persons  whose 
occupations  are  specified,  there  were  found  to  be  11 
preachers,  16  schoolmasters,  349  weavers,  183  mer- 
chants, 148  tailors,  64  sleeve-makers,  43  shoemakers, 
39  dyers,  37  brewers,  35  jewellers,  25  diamond-cutters, 
22  cutlers,  20  goldsmiths,  20  joiners,  15  clockmakers, 
12  silk-throwsters,  10  glass-makers,  besides  hemp- 
dressers,  thread-makers,  button- makers,  coopers,  en- 
gravers, gunmakers,  painters,  smiths,  watchmakers, 
and  other  skilled  craftsmen.3 

Numerous  other  settlements  of  the  refugees  took 
place  throughout  England,  more  particularly  in  the 
southern  counties.  "  The  foreign  manufacturers,"  says 
Hasted,  "  chose  their  situations  with  great  judgment, 
distributing  themselves  with  the  Queen's  licence 
throughout  England,  so  as  not  to  interfere  too  much 


1  State  Papers,  Dom. — Eliza-  Spaniards,  10  Venetians,  2  Blacka- 
beth,  vol.    84,  anno    1571.      It  moors,  and  two  Greeks, 
appears  from  the  Bishop  of  Lon-  2  State  Papers,  Dom. — Eliza- 
don's   certificate   of   1567   (four  beth.  vol.  82,  anno  1571. 
years  before),  that  the  number  "  List*  of  Foreign  Protestants 
of  persons  of  foreign  birth  then  and  Aliens  resident  in  England 
settled  in  London  was  4581,  and  1618-88.      Edited    by    William 
612  French.    There  were  at  the  Durrant  Cooper,  F.S.A.  Camden 
same  time  in  London  36  Scots,  Society's  Papers,  1862. 
J28  Italians.  23  Portuguese,  54 


104  PROTESTANT  EXILES  AT  NORWICH.    CHAP.  vi. 

with  each  other." x  One  of  the  most  important  of  such 
settlements  was  that  formed  at  Norwich,  where  the 
Refugees  founded  and  carried  on  many  important 
branches  of  trade. 

Although  Norwich  had  been  originally  indebted 
mainly  to  foreign  artizans  for  its  commercial  and 
manufacturing  importance,  the  natives  of  the  city 
were  among  the  first  to  turn  apon  their  benefactors. 
The  local  guilds,  in  their  usual  narrow  spirit,  passed 
stringent  regulations  directed  against  the  foreign 
artizans  who  had  originally  taught  them  their  trade. 
The  jealousy  of  the  native  workmen  was  also  roused, 
and  riots  were  stirred  up  against  the  Flemings,  many 
of  whom  left  Norwich  for  Leeds  and  Wakefield  in 
Yorkshire,  where  they  prosecuted  the  woollen  manu- 
facture free  from  the  restrictions  of  the  trades-unions, 
whilst  others  left  the  country  for  Holland,  to  cany  on 
their  trades  in  the  free  towns  of  that  country.2 

The  consequence  was  that  Norwich,  left  to  its  native 
enterprise  and  industry,  gradually  fell  into  a  state  of 
stagnation  and  decay.  Its  population  rapidly  dimin- 
ished ;  a  large  proportion  of  the  houses  stood  empty ; 
riots  among  the  distressed  workpeople  were  of  frequent 
occurrence;  and  it  was  even  mooted  in  Parliament 
whether  the  place  should  not  be  razed.  Under  such 
circumstances,  the  corporation  determined  to  call  to 
their  aid  the  skill  and  industry  of  the  exiled  Protes- 
tant artizans  now  flocking  into  the  country;  In  the 
year  1564,  a  deputation  of  the  citizens,  headed  by  the 
mayor,  waited  on  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  at  his  palace  in 
the  city,  and  asked  his  assistance  in  obtaining  a  settle- 

1  HASTED — History  of  Kent,  an  act  having  been  passed  en- 

x.  p.  160.  joining  that  hats  were  only  to 

*  In  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  an  be  manufactured  in  some  city, 

attempt  was  made  by  a  body  of  borongh,  or  market-town,  the 

Flemings  to  establish  the  manu-  Flemings  were  thereby  brought 

facture  of  felt  hats  at  Norwich.  under  the  bondage  of  the  guilds. 

To  evade  the  fiscal  regulations  The  making  of  hats  by  them  was 

of  the  guilds,  they  settled  outside  suppressed  ;  and  the  Flemish  hat- 

the  boundaries-  of  the  city.  But  makers  left  the  neighbourhood. 


CHAP.  vi.  PROSPERITY  OF  NORWICH'.  105 


menfc  in  the  place  of  a  body  of  Flemish  workmen. 
The  Duke  used  his  influence  with  this  object,  and 
he  shortly  succeeded  in  inducing  some  300  Dutch  and 
Walloon  families  to  settle  in  Norwich  at  his  charge, 
and  to  carry  on  their  trades  under  a  licence  granted 
by  the  Queen. 

The  exiles  were  very  shortly  enabled,  not  only  to 
maintain  themselves  by  their  industry,  but  to  restore 
the  city  to  more  than  its  former  prosperity.  The 
houses  which  had  been  standing  empty  were  again 
tenanted,  the  native  population  again  became  fully 
employed,  and  the  adjoining  districts  shared  in  the 
general  prosperity.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years,  3000 
foreign  workmen  were  found  settled  in  the  city, 
and  many  entirely  new  branches  of  trade  were  intro- 
duced and  successfully  carried  on  by  them.  Besides 
the  manufacture  of  sayes,  bayes,  serges,  arras,  mou- 
chade,  and  bombazines,  they  introduced  the  striping 
and  flowering  of  silks  and  damasks,  which  shortly 
became  one  of  the  principal  branches  of  trade  in  the 
place. 

The  manufacture  of  beaver  and  felt  hats,  before  im- 
ported from  abroad,  was  also  successfully  established 
in  Norwich.  One  Anthony  Solen  introduced  the  art 
of  printing,  for  which  he  was  awarded  the  freedom  of 
the  city.  Two  potters  from  Antwerp,  Jasper  Andries 
and  Jacob  Janson,  started  a  pottery,  though  in  a  very 
humble  way.1  Other  Flemings  introduced  the  art  of 

1  Stowe  makes  the  following  petition  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  that 
reference  to  these  men  in  his  they  were  the  first  that  brought 
Survey  of  London : — "  About  the  in  and  exercised  the  said  science 
year  1567  Jasper  Andries  and  in  this  realm,  and  were  at  great 
Jacob  Janson,  potters,  came  away  charges  before  they  could  find 
from  Antwerp  to  avoid  the  per-  the  materials  in  this  realm.  They 
secution  there,  and  settled  them-  beseeched  her,  in  recompense  of 
selves  in  Norwich,  where  they  their  great  cost  and  charges,  that 
followed  their  trade,  making  gal-  she  would  grant  them  house- 
ley  paving-tiles  and  apothecaries'  room  in  or  without  the  liberties 
vessels,  and  others,  very  arti-  of  London  by  the  water-side." 
ficially.  Anno  1 570  they  removed  The  brothers  Elers  afterwards,  in 
to  London.  They  set  forth,  in  a  1688,  began  the  manufacture  of  a 


106  THE  FOREIGNERS  ATTACKED.          CHAP.  VI. 

gardening  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  culinary  stuffs 
became  more  plentiful  in  Norwich  than  in  any  other 
town  or  city  in  England.  The  general  result  was — 
abundant  employment,  remunerative  trade,  cheap  food, 
and  great  prosperity;  Bishop  Parkhurst  declaring  his 
persuasion  that  "these  blessings  from  God  have  hap- 
pened by  reason  of  the  godly  exiles  who  were  so  kindly 
harboured  there." 

But  not  so  very  kindly  after  all.  As  before,  the 
sour  native  heart  grew  jealous  ;  and  notwithstanding 
the  admitted  prosperity  of  the  place,  the  local  popula- 
tion began  to  mutter  discontent  against  the- foreigners, 
who  had  been  mainly  its  cause.  Like  Jeshurun,  the 
natives  waxed  fat  and  kicked.  It  is  true,  the  numbers 
of  Dutch,  French,  and  Walloons  in  Norwich  had  be- 
come very  considerable,  by  reason  of  the  continuance 
of  the  persecutions  abroad,  which  drove  them  across 
the  Channel  in  increasing  numbers.  But  who  so  likely 
to  give  them  succour  and  shelter  as  their  own  country- 
men, maintaining  themselves  by  the  exercise  of  their 
skill  and  industry  in  the  towns  of  England  ? 

The  hostile  movement  against  the  foreign  artizans 
is  even  said  to  have  been  encouraged  by  some  of  the 
gentlemen  of  the  neighbourhood,  who  in  1570  set  on 
foot  a  conspiracy,  with  the  object  of  expelling  them  by 
force  from  the  city  and  realm.  But  the  conspiracy 
was  discovered  in  time.  Its  leader  and  instigator, 
John  Throgmorton,  was  seized  and  executed,  with  two 
others;  and  the  strangers  were  thenceforward  permitted 
to  pursue  their  respective  callings  in  peace. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  shortcomings  of 
Elizabeth  in  other  respects,  she  certainly  proved  her- 
self the  steadfast  friend  and  protector  of  the  Protestant 
exiles.  Her  conduct  with  reference  to  the  Norwich 
conspiracy  clearly  shows  the  spirit  which  influenced 

better  sort  of  pottery  in  Staf-  they  removed  from  Staffordshire, 
fordshire.  They  were  natives  of  and  settled  in  Lambeth  or  Che1- 
Nuremberg  in  Germany.  In  1710  sea. 


CHAP.  vi.     QUEEN  ELIZABETH'S  PROTECTION.  107 

her.  In  a  letter  written  by  her  from  the  palace  at 
Greenwich,  dated  the  19th  March  1570,  she  strongly 
expostulated  with  the  citizens  of  Norwich  respecting 
the  jealousy  entertained  by  them  against  the  authors  of 
their  prosperity.  She  reminded  them  of  the  advan- 
tages they  had  derived  from  the  settlement  amongst 
them  of  so  many  skilled  artizans,  who  inhabited  the 
houses  which  had  before  stood  desolate,  and  were 
furnishing  employment  to  large  numbers  of  persons 
who  must  otherwise  have  remained  unemployed.  She 
therefore  entreated  and  enjoined  them  to  continue 
their  favours  "  to  the  poor  men  of  the  Dutch  nation, 
who,  seeing  the  persecution  lately  begun  in  their 
country  for  the  trewe  religion,  hath  fledd  into  this 
realm  for  succour,  and  be  now  placed  in  the  city  of 
Norwich,  and  hath  hitherto  been  favourablye  and 
jintely  ordered,  which  the  Queen's  Majestie,  as  a 
mercifull  and  religious  Prince,  doth  take  in  very  good* 
part,  praeing  you  to  continue  your  favour  unto  them 
so  long  as  they  shall  lyve  emongste  you  quyetlye  and 
obedyently  to  God's  trewe  religion,  and  to  Her  Majesty's 
lawes,  for  so  one  chrystian  man  (in  charitie)  is  bound 
to  help  another,  especially  them  who  do  sutfre  afflixion 
for  the  gospelle's  sake." l 


1  The  following  is  a  copy  of  a  alsoe  a  grete  nomber  of  people 

document   in    the    State   Paper  nere  xx*1  myles  aboute  the  cittie. 

Office  (Dom.  Eliz.  1561),  giving  to  the  grete  relief  of  the  [poorer] 

an  account  of  "  the  benefite  re-  sorte  there, 
ceyved  by  the  strangers  in  Nor-          "  Item,  By  their  means  or  cittie 

wich    for    the    space    of    tenne  [is  well  inhabited,  or]  decayed 

yeres."     Several  passages  of  the  houses  re-edified  &  repaired  that 

paper  have  been  obliterated  by  [were  in  rewyn  and  more  wolde 

age: —  be].    And  now  good  rents  [arej 

"  In  primis,  They  brought  a  paide  for  the  same, 
grete  comoditie  thether — viz.  the          "  Item,  The  niarchants  by  their 

making  of  bayes,  moucades,  gro-  com oditi[es  have]  and  maye  have 

graynes,  all  sorts  of  tufts,  etc.  grete    trade    as  well  w*hin  the 

— w<*  were  not  made  there  be-  realme  as  wthoute  the  [realme], 

fore,  whereby  they  do  not  onely  being  in  good  estimacon  in  all 

set  on  worke  their  owne  people,  places. 

but   [do  also]    set  on  worke  or          "  Item.  It  cannot  be,  but  where- 

owne  people  wthin  the  cittie.  as  as  a  noiuber  of  people  be  but  the 


108  NEW  BRANCHES  OF  MANUFACTURE.    CHAP.TI. 

A  census  was  shortly  after  taken  of  the  foreigners 
settled  in  Norwich,  when  it  was  ascertained  that  they 
amounted  to  about  4000,  including  women  and  chil- 
dren ;  and  that  they  were  effectually  protected  in  the 
exercise  of  their  respective  callings,  and  continued  to 
prosper,  may  be  inferred  from  the  circumstance  that, 
when  the  numbers  were  again  taken,  about  ten  years 
later,  it  was  found  that  the  foreign  community  had 
increased  to  4679  persons. 

It  would  occupy  too  much  space  to  enter  into  a  de- 
tailed account  of  the  settlement  of  the  industrious 
strangers  throughout  the  country,  and  to  describe  the 
various  branches  of  manufacture  which  they  intro- 
duced, in  addition  to  those  already  described.  "  The 
persecution  for  religion  in  Brabant  and  Flanders,"  says 
Hasted,  "  communicated  to  all  the  Protestant  parts  of 
Europe  the  paper,  woollen,  and  other  valuable  manufac- 
tures of  Flanders  and  France,  almost  peculiar  at  that 
time  to  these  countries,  and  till  then  in  vain  practised 
elsewhere." l 

Although  the  manufacture  of  cloth  had  already  made 
some  progress  in  England,  only  the  coarser  sorts  were 
produced,  the  best  being  imported  from  abroad ;  and 

one  receyve  comodite  of  the  other  sustenance  for  the  [pore],  both 

as  well  of  the  cittie  as  men  of  the  for  themselves  as  for  all  others  of 

countrie.  cittie  and  countrie. 

' '  Item,  They  be  contributors  to  "  Item,  They  live  holy  of  them- 

all  paym**,  as  subsidies,  taskes,  selves  w^ut  [or  chardge],  and 

watches,  contribnsions,mynisters'  do  begge  of  no  man,  &  do  sus- 

wagis,  etc.  tayne    [all   their   owne]    poore 

"  Item,    Or    owne    people    do  people. 

practice  &  make  suche  comodities  "  And  to  conclude,  they  for  the 

as  the  strangers  do  make,  where-  [moste  p1*  feare]  God  &  diligently 

by  the  yonthe  is  set  onworke  and  &  laboriously  attende  upon  their 

kept  from  idlenes.  several  occupations,  they  obay  all 

"Item,  They  digge  &  delve  a  maiestratis  &  all  good  lawes  & 

nomber  of  acres  of  grounde,  &  do  ordynances,  they  live  peaceblie 

sowe  flaxe  &  do  make  it  out  in  amonge  themselves  &  towards  all 

lynnen  cloth,  w**  set  many  on  men,  &  we  thinke  or  cittie  happy 

worke.  to  enioye  them." 

"  Item,  They  digge  and  delve  a  *  HASTED — History  of  Kent, 

grete  quantitie  of   grounde  for  x.  p.  160. 
rootes,  [wch]  is  a  grete  succour  & 


CHAP.  vl.  FLEMINGS  SETTLE  ALL  OVER  EXGLAXD.  109 


it  was  not  until  the  settlement  among  us  of  the  Flemish 
weavers  that  this  branch  of  industry  became  one  of 
national  importance.  They  spread  themselves  through 
the  towns  and  villages  in  the  west  of  England,  as  well 
as  throughout  the  north,  and  wherever  the  woollen 
weavers  set  up  their  looms  they  carried  on  a  prosperous 
trade.1  Among  other  places  in  the  west  they  settled 
at  Worcester,  Evesham,  Droitwich,  Kidderminster, 
Stroud,  and  Glastonbury.2  In  the  east  they  settled 
at  Colchester,  Hertford,  Stamford,  and  other  places. 
Colchester  became  exceedingly  prosperous  in  conse- 
quence of  the  settlement  of  the  Flemish  artizans  there. 
In  1609  it  contained  as  many  as  1300  Walloons  and 
other  persons  of  foreign  parentage ;  and  every  house 
was  occupied.  In  the  north  we  find  them  establish- 
ing themselves  at  Manchester,  Bolton,  and  Halifax, 
where  they  made  "  coatings  " ; 3  and  at  Keudal,  where 


1  Fuller  specifies  the  following 
textile   manufactures  as  having 
been  established  by  the  immi- 
grants : — In  Norwich,  cloths,  fus- 
tians, etc.;  Sudbury,  baizes ;  Col- 
chester, sayes  and  serges;  Kent, 
Kentish    broad-cloths ;     Devon- 
shire,kerseys;  Gloucestershire  and 
Worcestershire,    cloths ;     Wales, 
Welsh    friezes ;     Westmoreland, 
Kendal  cloth ;  Lancashire,  coat- 
ings or  cottons  ;  Yorkshire,  Hali- 
fax cloths ;    Somerset,   Taunton 
serges ;  Hants,  Berks,  and  Sussex, 
cloth. 

2  A    settlement    of    Flemish 
woollen-weavers  took    place   at 
Glastonbnry  as    early  as   1549, 
through  the  influence  of  the  Duke 
of  Somerset,  who  advanced  them 
money  to  buy  wool,  at  the  same 
tune  providing  them  with  houses 
and  small  allotments  of  land  from 
the  domain  of  the  Abbey,  which 
the  king  had  granted  him.    After 
the  fall  of  the  Duke,  the  weavers 
were    protected    by    the    Privy 
Council,  and   many  documents 


relating  to  them  are  to  be  found 
in  the  State  Paper  Office. — (Edwd. 
VL,  Dom.  xiii.  71-77,  and  xiv. 
2-14  and  55). 

'  The  "  coatings"  or  "cottons " 
of  Lancashire  were  in  the  first 
instance  but  imitations  in  woollen 
of  the  goods  known  on  the  Con- 
tinent by  that  name  ;  the  im- 
portation of  cotton  wool  from  the 
Levant  having  only  begun,  and 
that  in  small  quantities,  about  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. "  There  is  one  fact,"  says 
the  editor  of  the  Shuttlenorth 
Papcrt,  "  which  seems  to  show 
that  the  Flemings,  after  their 
immigration,  had  much  to  do  with 
the  fulling-mill  at  Manchester; 
for  its  ordinary  name  was  the 
'  walken-milne '  —  nalcJie  being 
the  Flemish  name  for  a  fulling- 
mill.  So  persistent  do  we  find 
this  name,  that  a  plot  of  land 
occupied  by  a  mill  on  the  banks 
of  the  Irk  still  retains  its  oM 
name  of  the  Walker's  Croft  (i.e. 
the  fuller's  fidi  or  ground),  and 


116  fUREAb  Afri)  LACE  MAKERS.       CHAP.VI. 

they  made  cloth  caps  and  woollen  stockings.  The 
native  population  gradually  learned  to  practise  the 
same  branches  of  manufacture;  new  sources  of  em- 
ployment were  opened  up  to  them ;  and  in  the  course 
of  a  few  years,  England,  instead  of  depending  upon 
foreigners  for  its  supply  of  cloth,  was  not  only  able  to 
produce  sufficient  for  its  own  use,  but  to  export  the 
article  in  considerable  quantities  abroad. 

Other  Flemings  introduced  the  art  of  thread  and 
lace  making.  A  body  of  them  who  settled  at  Maid- 
stone,  in  1567,  carried  on  the  thread  manufacture  — 
flax  spun  for  the  threadman,  being  still  known  there 
as  "Dutch  work."  Some  lace-makers  from  Alen9on 
and  Valenciennes  settled  at  Cranfield,  in  Bedfordshire, 
in  1568 ;  after  which  others  settled  at  Buckingham, 
Stoney-Stratford,  and  Newport-Pagnel,  from  whence 
the  manufacture  gradually  extended  over  the  shires 
of  Oxford,  Northampton,  and  Cambridge.  About  the 
same  time  the  manufacture  of  bone-lace,  with  thread 
obtained  from  Antwerp,  was  introduced  into  Devon- 
shire by  the  Flemish  exiles,  who  settled  in  considerable 
numbers  at  Honiton,  Colyton,  and  other  places,  where 
the  trade  continued  to  be  carried  on  by  their  descend- 
ants almost  to  our  own  time — the  Flemish  and  French 
names  of  Stocker,  Murch,  Spiller,  Genest,  Maynard, 
Gerard,  Raymunds,  Rochett,  Kettel,  etc.,  being  still 
common  in  the  lace-towns  of  the  west. 

Besides  these  various  branches  of  textile  manufac- 
ture, the  immigrants  applied  themselves  to  mining, 
working  in  metals,  salt-making,  fish-curing,  and  other 
arts,  in  which  they  were  much  better  skilled  than  the 
English  then  were.  Thus,  we  find  a  body  of  them 


in  the  earlier  Manchester  direc-  shire,  Lancashire,  and  the  cloth- 

tories,  the    fullers  were    styled  ing    districts   of    the    west    of 

'walkers.' " — House   and    Home  England,  doubtless  originated  in 

Accounts    of  the    Shuttlercorth  this  callfrig,  which  was  followed 

Family  (Chetham  Society  Papers,  by  so  considerable  a  proportion 

185G-8),  pp.  637-8.      The  name  of  the  population. 
of  Walker,  so  common  in  York- 


CHAP.  vt.  SfEEL  AND  GLASS  MAKERS.  Ill 

from  tlie  neighbourhood  of  Liege  establishing  them- 
selves at  Shotley  Bridge,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Newcastle-on-Tyne,  where  they  introduced  the  making 
of  steel,  and  became  celebrated  for  the  swords  and 
edge-tools  which  they  manufactured.  The  names  of 
the  settlers,  some  of  which  have  been  preserved — Ole, 
Mohl,  Vooz,  etc. — indicate  their  origin;  and  some  of 
their  descendants  are  still  to  be  found  residing  in  the 
village,  under  the  names  of  Oley,  Mole,  and  such 
like.1 

Another  body  of  Flemings  established  a  glasswork 
at  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  where  the  manufacture  still 
continues  to  flourish.  Two  Flemings,  Anthony  Been 
and  John  Care,  erected  premises  for  making  window- 
glass  in  London  in  1567,  and  the  manufacture  was 
continued  by  their  two  fellow-countrymen,  Brut  and 
Appell.  At  that  tin  e,  glass  was  so  precious  that  when 
the  Duke  of  Northumberland  left  Alnwick  Castle,  the 
steward  was  accustomed  to  take  out  the  glazed  win- 
dows, and  stow  them  away  until  his  Grace's  return  ; 
and  even  in  the  middle  of  the  following  century  glass 
had  not  been  generally  introduced,  the  royal  palaces 

1  Mr.  Spencer  read  a  paper  on  manufacture  to  the  district  were 

the  "  Manufacture  of  Steel "  at  probably  good    Lutherans,  who 

the  meeting  of  the  British  Asso-  had  suffered  persecution  for  con- 

ciation  at  Newcastle  in  18G3,  in  science'  sake : — "  The  blessing  of 

which  he  thus  referred  to  these  the  Lord  makes  rich  without  care, 

early  iron- workers : — "In  the  wall  so  long  as  you  are  industrious  in 

of  an  old  two-storey  dwelling-  your  vocation,  and  do  what  is 

house,  the  original  materials  of  ordered  you."      There  is,   how- 

which  are  hidden  under  a  coat  of  ever,  a  much  earlier  reference  to 

rough-cast,  there    still  exists  a  the  immigrants    in    the    parish 

stone  above  the  doorway  with  an  register    of    Ebchester    Church, 

inscription  in  bad   German,  to  which  contains  the  entry  of  a 

the  following  effect : — DES.  HEE-  baptism  in  1628  of  the  daughter 

BEX.    BECEN.    MACHET.   EEICH.  of  one  Mathias  "Wrightson   Ole 

OHN.  ALLF.  SOBC.  WAN.   DVZV-  or  Oley — the  name  indicating  a 

GLEICH.    IN.    DEiNEil.    STAND.  probable  marriage  of  the  grand- 

TBEVW.  VND-LLEISIC.  BIST.  VXD.  father  of  the  child  into  a  native 

DVEST.    WAS.    DIE.  BELOHLEN.  family  of  the  name  of  Wrightson, 

1ST.  1691,  of  which  the  following  and  thereby  marking  the  third 

is  a  free  translation,  showing  that  generation  in  the  neighbourhood, 
the  original  importers  of  the  stee' 


112  SETTLERS  AT  SHEFFIELD  AND  YARMOUTH. 

of  Scotland  being  glazed  only  in  their  upper  windows, 
the  lower  ones  being  provided  with  wooden  shutters. 

Manufactories  for  the  better  kinds  of  glass  were  in 
like  manner  established  in  London  by  Venetians,  as- 
sisted by  Flemish  and  French  refugee  workmen.  Otie 
of  them  was  carried  on  at  Greenwich,  and  another  at 
Pinner's  Hall  in  Austin  Friars.  The  Flemings  espe- 
cially excelled  in  glass-painting, — one  of  them,  Bernard 
van  Linge,who  was  established  in  London  in  1614, being 
the  first  to  practise  the  art  in  England.  It  was  this 
artist  who  supplied  the  windows  for  Wadham  College, 
the  fine  window  of  Lincoln's  Inn  Chapel,  and  several 
subjects  for  Lincoln  College  Chapel. 

Flemish  workers  in  iron  and  steel  settled  at  Shef- 
field under  the  protection  of  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury, 
on  condition  that  they  should  take  English  appren- 
tices and  instruct  them  in  their  trade.  What  the 
skill  of  the  Low  Country  iron- workers  then  was,  may 
be  understood  by  any  one  who  has  seen  the  beautiful 
specimens  of  ancient  iron-work  to  be  met  with  in 
Belgium — as,  for  instance,  the  exquisite  iron  canopy 
over  the  draw-well  in  front  of  the  cathedral  at  Ant- 
werp, or  the  still  more  elaborate  iron  gates  enclosing 
the  little  chapels  behind  the  high  altar  of  the  cathe- 
dral of  St.  Bavon,  at  Ghent.  Only  the  Nurembergers, 
in  all  Germany,  could  vie  with  the  Flemings  in  such 
kind  of  work.  The  effects  of  the  instruction  given  by 
the  Flemish  artizans  to  their  Sheffield  apprentices  were 
soon  felt  in  the  impulse  which  the  improvement  of 
their  manufactures  gave  to  the  trade  of  the  town ;  and 
Sheffield  acquired  a  reputation  for  its  productions  in 
steel  and  iron  which  it  retains  to  this  day. 

A  body  of  refugees  of  the  seafaring  class  established 
themselves,  with  the  Queen's  licence,  at  Yarmouth 
in  1568,  and  there  carried  on  the  business  of  fishing 
with  great  success.  Before  then,  the  fish  along  the 
English  coasts  were  mostly  caught  by  the  Dutch,  who 
cured  them  in  Holland,  and  brought  them  back  for 
sale  in  the  English  markets.  But  shortly  after  the 


CHAP.  vi.  RECLAMATfON  OF  LANDS.  113 

establishment  of  the  fishery  at  Yarmouth  by  the 
Flemings,  the  home  demand  was  almost  entirely  sup- 
plied by  their  industry.  They  also  introduced  the  arts 
of  salt-making  and  herring-curing,  originally  a  Flemish 
invention  ;  and  the  trade  gradually  extended  to  other 
places,  and  furnished  employment  to  a  large  number 
of  persons. 

By  the  enterprise  chiefly  of  the  Flemish  merchants 
settled  in  London,  a  scheme  was  set  on  foot  for  the 
reclamation  of  the  drowned  lands  in  Hatfield  Chase 
and  the  great  level  of  the  Fens ; :  when  a  large  number 
of  labourers  assembled  under  Cornelius  Vermuyden  to 
execute  the  necessary  works.  They  were,  however,  a 
very  different  class  of  men  from  the  modern  "navvies"; 
for,  wherever  they  went,  they  formed  themselves  into 
congregations,  erected  churches,  and  appointed  minis- 
ters to  conduct  their  worship.  Upwards  of  two  hun- 
dred Flemish  families  settled  on  the  land  reclaimed  by 
them  in  the  Isle  of  Axholrn ;  the  ships  which  brought 
the  immigrants  up  the  Humber  to  their  new  homes 
being  facetiously  hailed  as  "  the  navy  of  Tarshish." 
The  reclaimers  afterwards  prosecuted  their  labours, 
under  Vermuyden,  in  the  great  level  of  the  Fens, 
where  they  were  instrumental  in  recovering  a  large 
extent  of  drowned  land,  before  then  a  mere  watery 
waste,  but  now  among  the  richest  and  most  fertile 
soil  in  England. 

A  few  of  the  exiles  found  an  asylum  in  Scotland ; 
though  that  country  was  then  too  poor  to  hold  out 
much  encouragement  to  the  banished  artizans.  Of 
those  who  arrived  in  Edinburgh,  due  care  was  taken 
for  their  maintenance  and  support.  Collections  were 
made  in  the  churches,  and  a  place  was  provided  for 
their  worship.  It  appears  from  the  City  records  that, 
in  May  1586,  the  magistrates  granted  the  use  of  the 
University  Hall  for  that  purpose ;  and  that  at  the 


1  Live*  *f  the  Engineers,  i.  15  65. 


114  PROTESTANT  EXILES  IN  SCOTLAND.    CHAP.  VI. 

same  time  they  agreed  to  pay  a  stipend  to  Pierre  du 
Moulin,  the  pastor  of  the  refugees. 

Several  years  later,  an  attempt  was  made  to  intro- 
duce into  Scotland  the  manufacture  of  cloth.  In 
1601,  seven  Flemings  were  engaged  to  settle  in  the 
country,  and  set  the  work  a-going, — six  of  them  for 
serges,  and  one  for  broadcloth.  But  disputes  arose 
amongst  the  boroughs  as  to  the  towns  in  which  the 
settlers  were  to  be  located,  during  which  the  strangers 
were  "  entertained  in  meat  and  drink."  l  At  length, 
in  1609,  a  body  of  Flemings  became  settled  in  the 
Canongate  of  Edinburgh,  under  one  Joan  Van  Hedan, 
where  they  were  engaged  in  "  making,  dressing,  and 
litting  of  stuffis,  giving  great  licht  and  knowledge  of 
their  calling  to  the  country  people."  2 

An  attempt  was  also  made  to  introduce  the  manu- 
facture of  paper  into  Scotland  about  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century, when  French  workmen  were  intro- 
duced for  the  instruction  of  the  natives.  The  first 
mill  was  erected  at  Dairy,  on  the  Water  of  Leith  ;  but 
though  the  manufacturers  succeeded  in  making  grey 
and  blue  paper,  the  speculation  does  not  seem  to  have 
answered, — as  we  find  Alexander  Daes,  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal proprietors,  shortly  after  occupied  in  showing  an 
elephant  about  the  country  ! — the  first  animal  of  the 
kind  that  had  been  seen  north  of  the  Tweed.3 

Besides  the  settlements  of  the  foreigners  in  England, 
others  passed  into  Ireland,  and  settled  in  Dublin, 
Waterford,  Limerick,  Belfast,  and  other  towns.  Sir 

1  CHAMBERS — Domestic   An-      it   was    proposed  to    license  a 
nals  of  Scotland,  i.  p.  351.  second    printer,  the    widow  of 

2  Ibid.  i.  p.  421.  Andrew  Anderson,  who  held  the 
*  I b id.  ii.    pp.  390-410. — The      only  licence,  endeavoured  to  keep 

art  of    paper-making    was    not  the    new    printer    (one    David 

successfully  established  in  Scot-  Lindsay)    out  of  the  trade,  al- 

land    until  the   middle    of  the  leging  that   she  had   been  pre- 

following    century.      Literature  viously  invested  with  the   sole 

must  then  have  been  at  a  low  privilege,   and  that    "one  press 

ebb  north  of   the  Tweed.      In  is  sufficiently  able  to  supply  all 

1683  there  was  only  one  print-  Scotland"! 
ing-press  in  Scotland ;  and  when 


CHAP.  vi.      PROTESTANT  EXILES  IN  IRELAND.  115 

Henry  Sidney,  in  the  "  Memoir  of  his  Government 
in  Ireland,"  written  in  1590,  thus  speaks  of  the  little 
colony  of  refugees  settled  at  Swords,  near  Dublin : — 
"I  caused  to  plant  and  inhabit  there  about  fourtie 
families  of  the  Reformed  Churches  of  the  Low  Coun- 
tries, flying  thence  for  religion's  sake,  in  one  ruinous 
town  called  Swords;  and  truly,  sir,  it  would  have 
done  any  man  good  to  have  seen  how  diligently  they 
wrought,  how  they  re-edified  the  quite  spoiled  ould 
castell  of  the  same  town,  and  repay  red  almost  all  the 
same,  and  how  godlie  and  cleanly  they,  their  wifes, 
and  children  lived.  They  made  diaper  and  tickes  for 
beddes,  and  other  good  stuffes  for  man's  use ;  and  as 
excellent  leather  of  deer  skynnes,  goat  and  sheep  fells, 
as  is  made  in  Southwarke." 

In  short,  wherever  the  refugees  took  up  their  abode, 
they  acted  as  so  many  missionaries  of  skilled  work, — 
exhibiting  the  best  practical  examples  of  diligence, 
industry,  and  thrift, — and  teaching  the  people  amongst 
whom  they  settled,  in  the  most  effective  manner,  the 
begnnings  of  those  various  industrial  arts  by  which 
they  have  since  acquired  so  much  distinction  and 
wealth. 

"  I  am  persuaded,"  said  the  Rev.  Elnathan  Parr,  in 
his  Expositions  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  pub- 
lished in  1632,  "that  England  fares  the  better  for 
kindness  showed,  in  dangerous  times,  to  French  and 
Dutch  strangers.  Long  may  England  be  a  sanctuary, 
and  refuge,  and  harbour  for  the  persecuted  saints  I 
For  '  he  that  receiveth  a  righteous  man  in  the  name 
of  a  righteous  man,  shall  have  a  righteous  man's 
reward.' " 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  EARLY  WALLOON  AND  FRENCH  CHURCHES  IN 
ENGLAND. 

THE  chief  object  which  the  foreign  Protestants  had  in 
view  in  flying  for  refuge  into  England,  was  not,  how- 
ever, so  much  to  follow  industry  as  to  be  free  to  wor- 
ship God  according  to  conscience.  For  that  they  had 
sacrificed  all, — possessions,  home,  and  country.  Accord- 
ingly, no  sooner  did  they  settle  in  any  place,  than  they 
formed  themselves  into  congregations  for  the  purpose 
of  worshipping  together.  While  their  numbers  were 
small,  they  were  content  to  meet  in  each  other's  houses, 
or  in  workshops  or  other  roomy  places ;  but,  as  the 
influx  of  refugees  increased  with  the  increase  of  persecu- 
tion abroad,  and  as  many  pastors  of  eminence  came 
with  them,  the  strangers  besought  the  government 
to  grant  them  places  for  holding  their  worship  in 
public.  This  was  willingly  conceded;  and  as  early 
as  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  churches  were  set  apart 
for  their  use  in  London,  Norwich,  Southampton,  and 
Canterbury. 

The  first  Walloon  and  French  churches  in  London 
owed  their  origin  to  the  young  King  Edward  VI.,  and 
to  the  protection  of  the  Duke  of  Somerset  and  Arch- 
bishop Cranmer.  On  the  24th  of  July  1550,  the  King 
issued  royal  letters  patent,  appointing  John  A'Lasco, 
a  learned  Polish  gentleman,1  superintendent  of  the 

1  In  1544,  John  A'Lasco  gave  which  his  uncle  was  archbishop, 
up  the  office  of  provost  of  the  to  go  and  found,  a  Protestant 
church  of  Gnezne,  in  Posen,  of  church  at  Embden,  in  East  Fries- 


CHAP.  vir.  CHURCHES  FOR  FOREIGNERS  IN  LONDON.  117 

refugee  Protestant  churches  in  England ;  and  at  the 
same  time  he  assigned  to  such  of  the  strangers  as  had 
settled  in  London  the  church  in  Austin  Friars  called 
the  Temple  of  Jesus,  wherein  to  hold  their  assemblies 
and  celebrate  their  worship  according  to  the  custom 
of  their  country.  Of  this  church  Walter  Deloen  and 
Martin  Flanders,  Frangois  de  la  Riviere,  and  Richard 
Fran9ois,  were  appointed  the  first  ministers ;  the  two 
former,  of  the  Dutch  or  Flemish  part  of  the  congrega- 
tion, and  the  two  latter,  of  the  French.  The  King  fur- 
ther constituted  the  superintendent  and  the  ministers 
into  a  body  politic,  and  placed  them  under  the  safe- 
guard of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities  of  the 
kingdom. 

But  the  number  of  refugees  settled  in  London  shortly 
became  so  great,  that  one  church  was  found  insufficient 
for  their  accommodation,  although  the  Dutch  and  French 
met  at  alternate  times  during  the  day.  In  the  course 
of  a  few  months,  therefore,  a  second  place  of  worship 
was  granted  to  the  French-speaking  section  of  the 
refugees ;  and  the  church  of  St.  Anthony's  Hospital,  in 
Threadneedle  Street,  was  set  apart  for  their  use.1 

land.  An  order  of  Charles  V.  fled  for  his  life,  and  took  refuge 
obliged  him  to  leave  that  town  in  Switzerland,  where  he  died, 
four  years  later ;  when  he  came  The  foreign  churches  in  Austin 
over  to  England,  in  the  year  Friars  and  Threadneedle  Street 
1548,  and  placed  himself  in  com-  were  reopened  on  the  accession 
munication  with  Cecil,  who  re-  of  Elizabeth, 
commended  him  to  the  Duke  of  '  Both  these  churches  were 
Somerset  and  Archbishop  Cran-  subsequently  destroyed  by  fire, 
mer.  During  his  residence  in  The  church  in  Austin  Friars  was 
England,  A'Lasco  was  actively  burnt  down  quite  recently,  and 
engaged  in  propagating  the  new  has  since  been  restored.  The 
views.  He  established  the  first  chuinh  in  Threadneedle  Street 
French  printing-house  in  London  was  burnt  down  during  the  great 
for  the  publication  of  religious  fire  of  London,  and  was  after- 
books,  of  which  he  produced  wards  rebuilt ;  but  it  has  since 
many ;  and  he  also  published  been  demolished  to  make  way 
others,  written  in  French  by  for  the  approaches  to  the  new 
Edward  VI.  himself.  During  Eoyal  Exchange,  when  it  was 
the  reign  of  Mary,  when  Protes-  removed  to  the  new  French 
tantism  in  all  its  forms  was  church  in  St.  Martin's-le-Grand. 
temporarily  suppressed,  A'Lasco  There  were  other  foreign  Pro- 


1 18    FOREIGN  CHUR  CUES  IN  THE  CO  UNTR  T.    CHAP.  vit. 

Walloon  and  French  congregations  were  also  formed 
in  various  country  places.  The  first  of  the  Walloon 
churches  out  of  London  was  that  of  Glastonbury,  where 
a  body  of  Flemish  Protestants  settled  as  early  as  the 
year  1550,  under  the  protection  of  Archbishop  Cranmer, 
the  Duke  of  Somerset,  and  Sir  William  Cecil.  They 
brought  with  them  a  well-known  preacher,  Yalaren 
Pullen,  and  at  once  constituted  themselves  as  a  church. 
The  Duke  of  Somerset  advanced  them  money  to  buy 
wool,  at  the  same  time  granting  them  small  allotments 
of  land  from  the  Abbey  domain.  After  the  fall  of  the 
Duke,  the  weavers  were  taken  under  the  protection  of 
the  Privy  Council,  and  many  papers  relating  to  them 
are  to  be  found  in  the  State  Paper  Office ;  but  when 
Mary  succeeded  to  the  throne,  the  little  colony  was 
broken  up,  and,  accompanied  by  their  pastor  Pullen, 
they  returned  to  the  Continent,  and  eventually  settled 
at  Frankfort-on-the-Maine. 

Another  of  the  early  Walloon  churches  was  that  of 
Winchelsea,  formed  in  1560;  but  it  was  of  compara- 
tively less  importance  than  the  others,  inasmuch  as, 
— the  town  being  poor  and  decaying, — most  of  the 
refugees,  shortly  after  landing  there,  proceeded  inland 
to  London,  Canterbury,  or  the  other  places  where 
settlements  had  already  been  formed.  The  Dutch 
church  at  Dover  long  continued  to  thrive,  being  fed 
by  increasing  immigrants  from  the  opposite  coast,  until 
at  length  it  became  known  as  the  French  Church. 

At  Sandwich  the  old  church  of  St.  Peter's  was  set 
apart  for  the  special  use  of  the  refugees ;  but,  at  the 
same  time,  they  were  enjoined  not  to  dispute  openly 
concerning  their  religion.1  At  Rye  they  were  allowed 

testant     churches     in     London  Edward  VI.,  and  continued  to 

besides  those  of   the  Walloons  worship  together  during  that  of 

and  French, — such  as  the  Spanish  Elizabeth,  after  which  they  seem 

Protestants,  who,  though  few  in  to  have  become  merged  in  the 

number,  had  a  church  of  their  French  congregations, 
own  as  early  as  1559;   and  the          '  This  church  long  continued 

Italian  Protestants,  who  formed  to  flourish.    The  Rev.  Gerard  de 

n  congregation  in  the  reign  of  Gols,  rector  of  St.  Peter's,  and 


CHAP.  Vil.     FRENCH  CHURCH  AT  SOUTHAMPTON.        119 

the  use  of  the  parish  church  during  one  part  of  the  day, 
until  a  special  place  of  worship  could  be  provided  for 
their  accommodation.  The  Walloon  church  at  Yarmouth 
was  founded  in  1568,  and  its  members  were  mostly 
fishermen.  Queen  Elizabeth  granted  them  a  license  to 
carry  on  their  trade  and  to  form  a  congregation ;  and 
they  held  their  public  worship  in  the  building  which 
had  originally  been  the  mansion  of  Thomas  de  Dray  ton, 
representative  of  the  town  in  the  time  of  Edward  III. 
At  Norwich,  where  the  number  of  the  settlers  was 
greater  in  proportion  to  the  population  than  in  most 
other  towns,  the  choir  of  Friars  Preachers  Church,  on 
the  east  side  of  St.  Andrew's  Hall,  was  assigned  for  the 
use  of  the  Dutch,  and  the  Bishop's  Chapel,  afterwards 
the  church  of  St.  Mary's  Tombland,  was  appropriated 
for  the  use  of  the  French  and  Walloons. 

Two  of  the  most  ancient  and  interesting  of  the 
churches  founded  by  the  refugees,  are  those  of  South- 
ampton and  Canterbury,  both  of  which  survive  to  this 
day.  Southampton  was  resorted  to  at  an  early  period 
by  fugitives  from  religious  persecution  in  Flanders 
and  France.  Many  came  from  the  Channel  Islands, 
where  they  had  first  fled  for  refuge,  on  account  of  the 
proximity  of  these  places  to  the  French  coast.  This 
appears  from  the  register  of  the  Southampton  church, — 
— a  document  of  great  interest,  preserved  amongst  the 
records  of  the  Registrar-General  at  Somerset  House. 

It  is  stated  in  Falle"s  History  of  Jersey,  that  forty- 
two  Protestant  ministers  of  religion,  besides  a  large 
number  of  lay  families,  passed  over  from  France  into 
Jersey  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, — many  of  them  before 
the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew.  And  although  the 
refugees  for  the  most  part  regarded  the  Channel  Islands 
as  merely  temporary  places  of  refuge, — or  as  a  sort 

minister  of  the  Dutch  congrega-  townsmen  that  he  was  one  of  the 

tion  in  Sandwich  between  -1713  persons  selected  by  the  corpora- 

and  1737,  was  highly  esteemed  in  tion  to  support  the  canopies  at 

his  day  as  an  author,  and  was  the  coronation  of  George  II.  and 

so  much  respected  by  his  fellow-  Queen  Caroline. 


120  "GOD'S  HOUSE"  AT  SOUTUAMPTOX.    CHAP.  \u 

of  stepping-stone  to  England, — a  sufficient  numbej 
remained  to  determine  the  Protestant  character  ol 
the  community,  and  to  completely  transform  th> 
islands  by  their  industry;  since  which  time,  Jersey  and 
Guernsey,  from  being  among  the  most  backward  and 
miserable  places  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  have  come  to 
be  recognised  as  among  the  most  happy  and  prosper- 
ous. 

The  first  French  church  at  Southampton,  which  was 
so  largely  fed  by  arrivals  from  the  Channel  Islands, 
was,  like  the  two  earliest  foreign  Protestant  churches 
in  London,  established  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  An 
old  chapel  in  Winkle  Street,  near  the  harbour,  called 
Domus  Dei,  or  "God's  House,"  forming  part  of  an 
ancient  hospital  founded  by  two  merchants  in  the  time 
of  Henry  III.,  was  set  apart  for  the  accommodation 
of  the  refugees.  The  hospital  and  chapel  had  originally 
been  dedicated  to  St.  Julian,  the  patron  of  travellers, 
and  was  probably  used  in  ancient  times  by  pilgrims 
passing  through  Southampton  to  and  from  the  adjoin- 
ing monastic  establishments  of  Netley  and  Beaulieu, 
and  the  famous  shrines  of  Winchester,  Wells,  and 
Salisbury. 

There  are  no  records  of  this  early  French  church 
beyond  what  can  be  gathered  from  their  Register,1 — 
which,  however,  is  remarkably  complete  and  well  pre- 
served, and  presents  many  points  of  curious  interest. 
The  first  entries  are  dated  1567,  when  the  register 
began  to  be  kept.  From  the  first  list  of  communicants 
entered  in  that  year,  it  appears  that  their  number  was 
then  only  fifty-eight,  of  whom  eight  were  distinguished 
as  "Anglois."  The  callings  of  the  members  were 
various,  medical  men  being  comparatively  numerous ; 
whilst  others  are  described  as  weavers,  bakers,  cutlers, 
and  brewers.  The  places  from  which  the  refugees  had 


1 "  Register  of  the  Church  of  St.       Registrar-General    at    Somerset 
Julian,  or  God's  House,  of  South-      House, 
ampton,"  in  the  Archives  of  the 


CHAP.  vn.     THE  REGISTER  AT  SOUTHAMPTON.  121 

come  are  also  given — those  most  frequently  occurring 
being  Valenciennes,  Lisle,  Dieppe,  Gerne'se  (Guernsey), 
and  .Terse. 

It  further  appears  from  the  entries,  that  satisfactory 
evidence  was  required  of  the  character  and  religious 
standing  of  the  new  refugees,  who  from  time  to  time 
arrived  from  abroad,  before  they  were  admitted  to  the 
privikges  of  membership;  the  words  "  avec  attestation," 
"  te'moinage  par  dent,"  or  simply  "  te'moinage,"  being 
attached  to  a  large  number  of  names.  Many  of  the 
fugitives,  before  they  succeeded  in  making  their  escape, 
appear  to  have  been  forced  to  attend  Mass;  and  their 
first  care  on  landing  seems  to  have  been,  to  seek  out 
the  nearest  pastor,  confess  their  sin,  and  take  the 
sacrament  according  to  the  rights  of  their  Church.  On 
the  3rd  of  July  1574  (more  than  a  year  after  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew)  occurs  this  entry — 
"  Tiebaut  de  Befroi,  his  wife,  his  son,  and  his  daughter, 
after  having  made  their  public  acknowledgment  of 
having  been  at  the  mass,  were  all  received  to  the 
sacrament." 

One  of  the  most  interesting  portions  of  the  register 
is  the  record  of  fasts  and  thanksgivings  held  at  "  God's 
House";  in  the  course  of  which  we  see  the  poor  refugees 
anxiously  watching  the  current  of  events  abroad,  de- 
ploring the  increasing  ferocity  of  their  persecutors, 
praying  God  to  bridle  the  strong  and  wicked  men 
who  sought  to  destroy  His  Church,  and  to  give  the 
help  of  His  outstretched  arm  to  its  true  followers  and 
defenders.  The  first  of  such  fasts  (Jeusnes)  relates  to 
the  persecutions  in  the  Netherlands  by  the  Duke  of 
Alva.  It  runs  as  follows  : — "  The  year  1568,  the  3rd 
day  of  September,  was  celebrated  a  public  fast ;  the 
occasion  was  that  Monseignor  the  Prince  of  Orange 
had  descended  from  Germany  into  the  Low  Countries, 
to  try  with  God's  help  to  deliver  the  poor  churches 
there  from  affliction ;  and  now  to  beseech  the  Lord 
most  fervently  for  the  deliverance  of  His  people,  this 
fast  was  celebrated." 


122        THE  FASTS  MELD  AT  SOUTHAMPTON.    ciiAi>.  vil. 

Another  fast  was  held  in  1570,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  defeat  of  the  Prince  of  Concle  at  the  battle  of 
Jarnac,  when  the  little  church  of  Southampton  again 
beseeched  help  for  their  brethren  against  the  calamities 
which  threatened  to  overwhelm  them.  Two  years 
later,  on  the  25th  of  September  1572,  we  find  them 
again  entreating  help  for  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who 
had  entered  the  Low  Countries  from  Germany  with  a 
new  army,  to  deliver  the  poor  churches  there  from  the 
hands  of  the  Duke  of  Alva,  "  that  cruel  tyrant ;  and 
also,  principally,  for  that  the  churches  of  France  have 
suffered  a  marvellous  and  extremely  horrible  calamity 
— a  horrible  massacre  having  been  perpetrated  at  Paris 
on  the  24th  day  of  August  last,  in  which  a  great 
number  of  nobles  and  of  the  faithful  were  killed  in 
one  night,  about  twelve  or  thirteen  thousand ;  preach- 
ing forbidden ;  and  all  the  property  of  the  faithful 
given  up  to  pillage  throughout  the  kingdom.  Now 
for  the  consolation  of  them  and  of  the  Low  Countries, 
and  to  pray  the  Lord  for  their  deliverance,  was  cele- 
brated this  solemn  fast." 

Other  fasts  were  held,  to  pray  God  to  maintain  her 
Majesty  the  Queen  in  good  friendship  and  accord  with 
the  Prince  of  Orange,1  to  uphold  the  Protestant 
churches  in  France,  to  stay  the  ravages  of  the  plague, 
to  comfort  and  succour  the  poor  people  of  Antwerp, 
driven  out  of  that  city  on  its  destruction  by  the 
Spaniards,2  and  to  help  and  strengthen  the  churches 
of  the  refuge  established  in  England.  Several  of  these 
fasts  were  appointed  to  be  held  by  the  conference 
(colloque)  of  the  churches,  the  meetings  of  which  were 
held  annually  in  London,  Canterbury,  Norwich,  South- 
ampton, and  other  places ;  so  that  at  the  same  time 
the  same  fast  was  being  held  in  all  the  foreign  churches 
throughout  the  kingdom. 

In  one  case  the  shock  of  an  earthquake  is  recorded. 
The  entry  runs  as  follows :— "  The  28th  of  April,  1580, 

1  Fast,  29th  August,  1576.  a  Fast,  22nd  November,  1576. 


CHAP.  Vir.      DEFEAT  OF  THE  SPANISH  ARMADA.        123 

a  fast  was  celebrated  to  pray  God  to  preserve  us 
against  His  anger,  since  on  the  6th  of  this  month  we 
have  been  appalled  by  a  great  trembling  of  the  earth, 
which  has  not  only  been  felt  throughout  all  this  king- 
dom, but  also  in  Picardy  and  the  Low  Countries  of 
Flanders;  as  well  as  to  preserve  us  against  war  and 
plague,  and  to  protect  the  poor  churches  of  Flanders 
and  France  against  the  assaults  of  their  enemies, 
who  have  joined  their  forces  to  the  great  army  of 
Spain  for  the  purpose  of  working  their  destruction." 
Another  fast  commemorates  the  appearance  of  a  comet, 
which  was  first  seen  on  the  8th  of  October,  and  con- 
tinued in  sight  until  the  12th  of  December  in  the 
year  1581. 

A  subsequent  entry  relates  to  the  defeat  of  the  great 
Spanish  Armada.  On  this  occasion  the  little  church 
united  in  a  public  thanksgiving.  The  record  is  as 
follows: — "The  29th  of  November,  1588,  thanks  were 
publicly  rendered  to  God  for  the  wonderful  dispersion 
of  the  Spanish  fleet,  which  had  descended  upon  the 
coast  of  England  with  the  object  of  conquering  the 
kingdom  and  bringing  it  under  the  tyranny  of  the 
Pope."  And,  on  the  5th  of  December  following, 
another  public  fast  was  held,  for  the  purpose  of  pra)7- 
ing  the  Lord  that  He  would  be  pleased  to  grant  to 
the  churches  of  France  and  of  Flanders  a  like  happy 
deliverance  as  had  been  vouchsafed  to  England.  A 
blessing  was  also  sought  upon  the  English  navy, 
which  had  put  to  flight  the  Armada  of  Spain. 

In  the  midst  of  these  events,  Queen  Elizabeth  visited 
Southampton  with  her  court ;  on  which  occasion  the 
refugees  sought  to  obtain  access  to  her  Majesty,  to 
thank  her  for  the  favour  and  protection  which  they 
had  enjoyed  at  her  hands.  They  were  unable  to  obtain 
an  interview  with  the  Queen,  until  she  had  set  out  on 
her  way  homeward,  when  a  deputation  of  the  refugees 
waited  for  her  outside  the  town  and  craved  a  brief 
interview.  This  she  graciously  accorded,  when  their 
spokesman  thanked  her  for  the  tranquillity  and  rest 


124  VISITS  OF  THE  PLAGUE.  CHAP.  VII. 

which  they  had  enjoyed  during  the  twenty-four  years 
that  they  had  lived  in  the  town ;  to  which  the  Queen 
replied  very  kindly,  giving  praise  to  God  who  had 
given  her  the  opportunity  and  the  power  of  welcoming 
ard  encouraging  the  poor  foreigners. 

A  considerable  proportion  of  the  fasts  relate  to  the 
plague,  which  was  a  frequent  and  unwelcome  visitor — 
on  one  occasion  sweeping  away  almost  the  entire  set- 
tlement. In  1583,  the  communicants  were  reduced  to 
a  very  small  number;  but  those  who  remained  met 
daily  at  "  God's  House "  to  pray  for  the  abatement  of 
the  pestilence.  It  returned  again  in  1604,  and  again 
swept  away  a  large  proportion  of  the  congregation, 
which  had  considerably  increased  in  the  interval. 
One  hundred  and  sixty-one  persons  are  set  down  as 
having  died  of  plague  in  that  year,  the  number  of 
deaths  amounting  to  four  and  five  a-day. 

The  greater  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  South- 
ampton abandoned  their  dwellings,  and  the  clergy 
seem  to  have  accompanied  them ;  for  on  the  23rd 
of  July,  1665,  an  English  child  was  brought  to  the 
French  church  to  be  baptized,  by  authority  of  the 
mayor,  and  the  ceremony  was  performed  by  M. 
Courand,  the  pastor.  Shortly  after,  M.  Courand  died 
at  his  post,  after  registering  with  his  own  hand  the 
deaths  of  the  greater  part  of  his  flock.  On  the  21st 
of  September,  1665,  the  familiar  handwriting  of  the 
pastor  ceases,  and  the  entry  is  made  by  another  hand, 
"  Monsieur  Courand,  notre  pasteur — peste." 

While  death  was  thus  busy,  marrying  and  giving 
in  marriage  went  on.  Some  couples  were  so  im- 
patient to  be  united  that  they  could  not  wait  for  the 
return  of  the  English  clergy,  who  had  left  the  town, 
but  hastened  to  be  married  by  the  French  pastor  at 
"  God's  House,"  as  we  find  from  the  register. 

Another  highly-interesting  memorial  of  the  asylum 
given  to  the  persecuted  Protestants  of  Flanders  and 
France  so  many  centuries  ago,  is  presented  by  the 
"Walloon  or  French  church  which  exists  to  this  day 


CHAP.  vir.    FRENCH  CIIURCn  AT  CANTERBURY.  Ub 

in  Canterbury  Cathedral.  It  was  formed  at  a  very 
early  period — some  suppose  as  early  as  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI.,  like  those  of  London  and  Southampton ; 
though  the  first  record  preserved  of  its  existence  is  early 
in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  Shortly  after  the  landings 
of  the  foreign  Protestants  at  Sandwich  and  Rye,  a 
body  of  them  proceeded  to  Canterbury,  and  sought 
permission  of  the  mayor  and  aldermen  to  settle  in 
the  place.  They  came  principally  from  Lisle,  Nuelle, 
Turcoing,  Waterloo,  Darmentieres,  and  other  places 
situated  along  the  present  French  frontier. 

The  first  arrivals  of  the  fugitives  consisted  of 
eighteen  families,  led  by  their  pastor,  Hector  Hamon, 
"minister  verbi  Dei."  They  are  described  as  having 
landed  at  Rye,  and  temporarily  settled  at  Winchelsea, 
from  which  place  they  had  come  across  the  country  to 
Canterbury.  Persecution  had  made  these  poor  exiles 
very  humble.  All  that  they  sought  was  freedom  to 
worship  and  to  labour.  They  had  no  thought  but  to 
pursue  their  several  callings  in  peace  and  quiet — to 
bring  up  their  children  virtuously — and  to  lead  a  dili- 
gent, sober,  and  religious  life,  according  to  the  dictates 
of  their  conscience.  Men  such  as  these  are  the  salt  of 
the  earth  at  all  times ;  yet  they  had  been  forced  by 
a  ruthless  persecution  from  their  homes,  and  driven 
forth  as  wanderers  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

In  their  memorial  to  the  mayor  and  aldermen,  in 
15 64,  they  set  forth  that  they  had,  for  the  love  of 
religion  (which  they  earnestly  desired  to  hold  fast  with 
a  free  conscience),  relinquished  their  country  and  their 
worldly  goods;  and  they  humbly  prayed  that  they 
might  be  permitted  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion 
within  the  city,  and  allowed  the  privilege  of  a  temple 
to  hold  their  worship  in,  together  with  a  place  of  sepul- 
ture for  their  dead.  They  further  requested  that  lest, 
under  the  guise  of  religion,  profane  and  evil-minded 
men  should  seek  to  share  in  the  privileges  which  they 
sought  to  obtain,  none  should  be  permitted  to  join 
them  without  giving  satisfactory  evidences  of  their 


126    EXILES  IN  CANTERBURY  CATHEDRAL.    CHAP.  vn. 

probity  of  character.  And,  in  order  that  the  young 
persons  belonging  to  their  body  might  not  remain 
untaught,  they  also  asked  permission  to  maintain  a 
teacher,  for  the  purpose  of  instructing  them  in  the 
French  tongue.  Finally,  they  declared  their  intention 
of  being  industrious  citizens,  and  of  proceeding,  under 
the  favour  and  protection  of  the  magistrates,  to  make 
Florence  serges,  bombazine,  Orleans  silk,  bayes,  rnou- 
quade,  and  other  stuffs.1 

Canterbury  was  fortunate  in  being  appealed  to  by 
these  fugitives  for  an  asylum — bringing  with  them,  as 
they  did,  skill,  industry,  and  character.  The  autho- 
rities at  once  cheerfully  granted  all  that  they  asked, 
in  the  terms  of  their  own  memorial.  The  mayor  and 
aldermen  gave  them  permission  to  carry  on  their  trades 
within  the  precincts  of  the  city.  At  the  same  time, 
the  liberal-minded  Matthew  Parker,  then  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  with  the  sanction  of  the  Queen,  granted 
to  the  exiles  the  free  use  of  the  Under  Croft  of  the 
cathedral,  where  "  the  gentle  and  profitable  strangers," 
as  the  Archbishop  styled  them,  not  only  celebrated 
their  worship  and  taught  their  children,  but  set  up 
their  looms  and  carried  on  their  industry. 

The  Under  Croft,  or  Crypt,  extends  under  the  choir 
and  high  altar  of  Canterbury  Cathedral,  and  is  of  con- 
siderable extent.  The  body  of  Thomas  a  Becket  was 
buried  first  in  the  Under  Croft,  and  lay  there  for  fifty 
years,  until  it  was  translated  with  great  ceremony  to 
the  sumptuous  shrine  prepared  by  Stephen  Langton, 
his  successor,  at  the  east  end  of  the  cathedral.  Part  of 
the  Under  Croft,  immediately  under  the  cross  aisle  of 
the  choir,  was  dedicated  and  endowed  as  a  chapel  by 
Edward  the  Black  Prince ;  and  another  part  of  the 
area  was  enclosed  by  rich  Gothic  stone-work,  and 
dedicated  to  the  Virgin.2 

1  The  memorial  is  given  in  the  tains    an    interesting  Huguenot 
appendix  to  SOMNEE'S  Antiqui-  memorial  of  about  the  same  date 
tics  of  Canterbury.  as  the  settlement  of  the  Walloons 

2  Canterbury  Cathedral   con-  in  the  Under  Croft.      The  visitor 


CHAP.  vn.     THE  LADY  UNDERCROFT  CHAPEL.  127 

The  Lady  Undercroft  Chapel  was  one  of  the  most 
gorgeous  shrines  of  its  time.  It  was  so  rich  and  of  such 
high  esteem,  that  Somner  says,  "  The  sight  of  it  was 
debarred  to  the  vulgar,  and  reserved  only  for  persons 
of  great  quality."  Erasmus,  who  by  special  favour 
(Archbishop  Warham  recommending  him)  was  brought 
to  the  sight  of  it,  describes  it  thus  : — "  There,"  said  he, 
"  the  Virgin-mother  hath  a  habitation,  but  somewhat 
dark,  inclosed  with  a  double  sept  or  rail  of  iron,  for 
fear  of  thieves.  For  indeed  I  never  saw  a  thing  more 
laden  with  riches.  Lights  being  brought,  we  saw  a 
more  than  royal  spectacle.  In  beauty  it  far  surpasseth 
that  of  Walsingham.  This  chapel  is  not  showed  but 
to  noblemen  and  especial  friends." l  Over  the  statue 
of  the  Virgin,  which  was  in  pure  gold,  there  was  a 
royal  purple  canopy,  starred  with  jewels  and  precious 
stones;  and  a  row  of  silver  lamps  was  suspended  from 
the  roof  in  front  of  the  shrine. 

All  these  decorations  were,  however,  removed  by 
Henry  VIIL,  who  took  possession  of  the  greater  part 
of  the  gold  and  silver  jewels  of  the  cathedral,  and  had 
them  converted  into  money.  The  Under  Croft  became 

to  the  cathedral  observes  behind  his  death  made  to  Burghley  and 
the  high  altar,  near  the  tomb  of  Leicester,  preserved  in  the  State 
the  Black  Prince,  a  coffin  of  brick  Paper  Office,  there  does  not,  how- 
plastered  over,  in  the  form  of  ever,  appear  sufficient  ground  for 
a  sarcophagus.  It  contains  the  the  popular  belief.  His  body  was 
ashes  of  Cardinal  Odo  Coligny,  not  interred,  but  was  placed  in 
brother  of  the  celebrated  Admiral  the  brick  coffin  behind  the  high 
Coligny,  who  was  one  of  the  first  altar,  in  order  that  it  might  be 
victims  to  the  massacre  of  St.  the  more  readily  removed  for  in- 
Bartholomew.  In  1568,  the  car-  terment  in  the  family  vault  n 
dinal  visited  Queen  Elizabeth,  France,  when  the  religious  trou- 
who  received  him  with  marked  bles  which  then  prevailed  had 
respect,  and  lodged  him  sump-  come  to  an  end.  But  the  mas- 
tuously  at  Sheen.  Three  years  sacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  shortly 
later  he  died  at  Canterbury  after  followed  ;  the  Coligny  family 
a  brief  illness.  Strype,  and  nearly  were  then  almost  destroyed  ;  and 
all  subsequent  writers,  allege  that  hence  the  body  of  Odo  Coligny 
he  died  of  poison,  administered  has  not  been  buried  to  this  day. 
by  one  of  his  attendants  because  '  SOMNER.  —  Antiquities  jf 
of  his  supposed  conversion  to  Pro-  Canterbury.  1703.  p  97. 
testantism.  From  a  full  report  of 


123  REFUGEES  IN  TUE  UNDERCROFT.    CHAP,  vj) 

deserted ;  the  chapels  it  contained  were  disused ;  and 
it  remained  merely  a  large,  vaulted,  ill-lighted  area, 
until  permission  was  granted  to  the  Walloons  to  use  it 
by  turns  as  a  weaving-shed,  a  school,  and  a  church. 
Over  the  capitals  of  the  columns  on  the  north  side  of 
the  crypt  are  several  texts  of  Scripture  taken  from  the 
Psalms,  the  Proverbs,  and  the  New  Testament,  — still 
to  be  seen  in  old  French,  written  up  for  the  benefit  of 
the  scholars,  and  doubtless  taught  to  them  by  heart. 

Desolate,  gloomy,  and  sepulchral  though  the  place 
might  seem — with  the  ashes  of  former  archbishops 
and  dignitaries  of  the  cathedral  mouldering  under 
their  feet, — the  exiles  were  thankful  for  the  refuge  it 
afforded  them  in  their  time  of  need,  and  they  daily 
made  the  vaults  resound  with  their  prayer  and  praise. 
Morning  and  night  they  "  sang  the  Lord's  song  in  a 
strange  land,  and  wept  when  they  remembered  Zion." 

The  refugees  worked,  worshipped,  and  prospered. 
They  succeeded  in  maintaining  themselves ;  they  sup- 
ported their  own  poor;  and  they  were  able,  out  of 
their  small  means,  to  extend  a  helping  hand  to  the 
fugitives  who  continued  to  arrive  in  England,  still 
fleeing  from  the  persecutions  in  Flanders  and  France. 
Every  corner  of  the  Under  Croft  was  occupied ;  and 
so  many  fresh  immigrants  continued  to  join  them, 
that  the  place  was  soon  found  too  small  for  their 
accommodation. 

Somner,  writing  in  1639,  thus  refers  to  the  exiles: — 
"  Let  me  now  lead  you  to  the  Under  Croft — a  place  fit, 
and  haply  (as  one  cause)  fitted  to  keep  in  memory  the 
subterraneous  temples  of  the  primitives,  in  the  times 
of  persecution.  The  west  part  whereof,  being  spacious 
and  lightsome,  for  many  years  hath  been  the  strangers' 
church  :  a  congregation  for  the  most  part  of  distressed 
exiles,  grown  so  great,  and  yet  daily  multiplying,  that 
the  place  in  short  time  is  likely  to  prove  a  hive  too 
little  to  contain  such  a  swarm." 

The  Huguenot  exiles  remained  unmolested  in  the 
exercise  of  their  worship  until  the  advent  of  Charles  L 


CHAP.  vii.      THE  EXILES  AGAIN  PERSECUTED.  129 

as  King  of  England,  and  of  Laud  as  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  An  attempt  was  then  made  to  compel 
the  refugees,  who  were  for  the  most  part  Calvinists,  to 
conform  to  the  Anglican  ritual.  The  foreign  congre- 
gations appealed  to  the  King,  pleading  the  hospitality 
extended  to  them  by  the  nation  when  they  had  fled 
from  Papal  persecution  abroad,  and  the  privileges  and 
exemptions  granted  to  them  by  Edward  VI.,  which 
had  been  confirmed  by  Elizabeth  and  James,  and  even 
by  Charles  I.  himself.  The  utmost  concession  that  the 
King  would  grant  was,  that  those  who  were  born  aliens 
might  still  enjoy  the  use  of  their  own  church  service ; 
but  that  all  their  children  born  in  England  should 
regularly  attend  the  parish  churches.  Even  this  small 
concession  was  limited  only  to  the  congregation  at 
Canterbury,  and  measures  were  taken  to  enforce  con- 
formity in  the  other  dioceses. 

The  refugees  thus  found  themselves  exposed  to  an 
Anglican  persecution,  instead  of  a  Papal  one.  Rather 
than  endure  it,  several  thousands  of  them  left  the 
country,  abandoning  their  new  homes,  and  again  risk- 
ing the  loss  of  everything,  in  preference  to  giving  up 
their  views  as  to  religion.  About  a  hundred  and  forty 
families  emigrated  from  Norwich  into  Holland,  where 
the  Dutch  received  them  hospitably,  and  gave  them 
house-accommodation  free,  with  exemption  from  taxes 
for  seven  years,  during  which  they  instructed  the 
natives  in  the  woollen  manufacture,  of  which  they 
had  before  been  ignorant.  But  the  greater  number  of 
the  exiles  emigrated  with  their  families  to  North 
America,  and  swelled  the  numbers  of  the  little  colony 
already  formed  in  Massachusetts  Bay,  which  eventually 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  New  England  States. 

After  the  lapse  of  a  few  years,  the  reactionary 
course  upon  which  Charles  I.  and  Archbishop  Laud  had 
entered,  was  summarily  checked.  The  foreign  refugees 
were  again  permitted  to  worship  God  according  to 
conscience,  and  the  right  of  free  asylum  in  England 
was  again  recognised  and  established. 

9 


CHAPTER  VIH 

THE  EDICT  OF  NANTES. — COLBERT  AND  LOUIS  XIV. 

THE  immigrations  of  foreign  Protestants  into  England 
in  a  great  measure  ceased  towards  the  end  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  In  Flanders,  the  Protestants  had  for 
the  most  part  been  killed  or  expatriated,  and  their 
persecutors  were  left  to  enjoy  their  triumph  amidst 
ruins.  France  also  experienced  a  period  of  temporary 
repose.  The  ferocious  wars  of  the  League  had  been 
terminated  by  the  accession  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  the 
Huguenot  leader,  to  the  French  crown, — on  which  both 
parties  laid  down  their  arms  for  a  time.  Nothing 
seemed  to  be  wanting  to  secure  the  permanent  unity 
and  peace  of  the  kingdom  but  the  acceptance  by  the 
King  of  the  religion  of  the  majority ;  and  to  accomplish 
this  great  object,  Henry  conformed,  or  pretended  to 
conform, — making  his  public  abjuration  of  the  Protes- 
tant faith  in  the  church  of  St.  Denis,  on  the  25th  of 
July  1593. 

In  that  age  of  assassination,  Henry  was  probably 
influenced  by  the  consideration  that,  unless  he  made 
his  peace  with  the  Romish  Church,  his  life  was  in 
daily  peril.  Besides,  religion  formed  no  part  of  his 
genuine  character.  Although,  as  a  king,  he  was  mag- 
nanimous, large-hearted,  and  brave ;  in  his  private 
life,  he  was  profligate  and  sensual.  He  had  been  a 
Huguenot  for  political,  rather  than  religious  reasons  ; 
and  for  political  reasons  he  ceased  to  be  a  Huguenot, 
and  became  a  Roman  Catholic.  But  it  was  a  mistake 
on  his  part  to  suppose  that  his  life  was  safer  after 


C-II.VP.  vin.  THE  EDICT  OF  NAtfTES.  131 

his  recantation  than  before.  On  the  contrary,  it  was 
placed  in  still  greater  peril ;  and  his  speedy  assassina- 
tion was  predicted  on  the  very  day  of  his  pretended 
conversion,  A  member  of  the  Grand  Council,  himself 
a  zealous  Roman  Catholic,  immediately  on  Henry's 
abjuration,  whispered  to  a  friend, — "  The  King  is  lost ! 
He  is  killable  from  this  hour;  before  he  was  not."1 

One  of  Henry's  justest  and  greatest  acts  was  the 
promulgation  by  him,  in  1598,  of  the  celebrated  Edict 
of  Nantes.  By  that  edict  the  Huguenots,  after  sixty 
years  of  persecution,  were  allowed  at  last  comparative 
liberty  of  conscience  and  freedom  of  worship.  What 
the  Roman  Catholics  thought  of  it,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  protest  of  Pope  Clement  VIII.,  who  wrote 
to  Henry  to  say,  that  "  a  decree  which  gave  liberty  of 
conscience  to  all  was  the  most  accursed  that  had  ever 
been  made" 

From  the  date  of  that  edict,  persons  of  the  Re- 
formed Faith  were  admitted  to  public  employment ; 
their  children  were  allowed  access  to  the  schools  and 
universities ;  they  were  provided  with  equal  represen- 
tation in  some  of  the  provincial  parliaments,  and  per- 
mitted to  hold  a  certain  number  of  places  of  surety  in 
the  kingdom.  And  thus  was  a  treaty  of  peace  estab- 
lished for  a  time  between  the  people  of  the  contending 
faiths  throughout  France. 

But  though  Henry  IV.  governed  France  ably  and 
justly  for  a  period  of  sixteen  years,  his  enemies,  the 
Jesuits,  never  forgave  him,  nor  did  his  apostasy  avert 
their  vengeance.  After  repeated  attempts  made  upon 
his  life  by  their  emissaries,  he  was  eventually  assas- 
sinated by  Francis  Ravaillac,  a  lay  brother  of  the 
monastery  of  St.  Bernard,  on  the  14th  of  May  1610. 

Although  the  edicts  of  toleration  were  formally 
proclaimed  by  Henry's  successor,  they  were  practically 
disregarded  and  violated.  Marie  de  Medicis,  the 
queen-regent,  was,  like  all  of  her  race,  the  bitter 

1  Mcmoires  de  L'Estoile, 


132  CARDINAL  RICHELIEU.  CHAP.  vni. 

enemy  of  Protestantism.  She  was  governed  by  Italian 
favourites,  who  inspired  her  policy.  They  distributed 
amongst  themselves  the  public  treasures  with  so  lavish 
a  hand,  that  the  Parisians  rose  in  insurrection  against 
them,  murdered  Concini,  whom  the  queen  had  created 
Marshal  d'Ancre,  and  afterwards  burned  his  wife  as  a 
sorceress;  the  young  king,  Louis  XIII.,  then  only  about 
sixteen  years  old,  joining  in  the  atrocities. 

Civil  war  shortly  broke  out  between  the  court  and 
the  country  factions,  which  soon  became  embittered 
by  the  old  religious  animosities.  There  was  a  great 
massacre  of  the  Huguenots  in  Beam,  where  their 
worship  was  suppressed,  and  the  Roman  Catholic 
priests  were  installed  in  their  places.  Other  massacres 
followed,  and  occasioned  general  alarm  among  the 
Protestants.  In  those  towns  where  they  were  the 
strongest,  they  shut  their  gates  against  the  King's 
forces,  and  determined  to  resist  force  by  force.  In 
1621  the  young  King  set  out  with  his  army  to  reduce 
the  revolted  towns,  and  first  attacked  St.  Jean  d'Angely, 
which  he  captured  after  a  siege  of  twenty-six  days. 
He  next  assailed  Montauban,  but,  after  a  siege  of  two 
months,  he  retired  from  the  place  defeated,  with  tears 
in  his  eyes. 

In  1622,  the  King  called  to  his  councils  Armand 
Duplessis  de  Richelieu,  the  Queen's  favourite  adviser, 
whom  the  Pope  had  recently  presented  with  a  cardi- 
nal's hat.  His  force  of  character  was  soon  felt,  and 
in  all  affairs  of  government  the  influence  of  Richelieu 
became  supreme.  One  of  the  first  objects  to  which  he 
applied  himself,  was  the  suppression  of  the  anarchy 
which  prevailed  throughout  France,  occasioned  in  a 
great  measure  by  the  abuse  of  the  feudal  powers  still 
exercised  by  the  ancient  noblesse.  Another  object 
which  he  considered  essential  to  the  unity  and  power 
of  France,  was  the  annihilation  of  the  Protestants  as 
a  political  party.  Accordingly,  shortly  after  his  ac- 
cession to  office,  he  advised  the  attack  of  Rochelle,  the 
head-quarters  of  the  Huguenots — then  regarded  as 


CHAP.  YIII.      SECOND  SIEGE  OF  ROCHELLE.  133 

the  citadel  of  Protestantism  in  France.  His  advice  was 
followed,  and  a  powerful  army  was  assembled  and 
marched  on  the  doomed  place — Richelieu  combining  in 
himself  the  functions  of  bishop,  prime-minister,  and 
commander-in-chief.  The  Huguenots  of  Rochelle  de- 
fended themselves  with  great  bravery  for  more  than  a 
year,  during  which  they  endured  the  greatest  priva- 
tions. But  their  resistance  was  in  vain.  On  the  28th 
of  October,  1628,  Richelieu  rode  into  Rochelle  by  the 
King's  side,  in  velvet  and  cuirass,  at  the  head  of  the 
royal  army ;  after  which  he  proceeded  to  perform  high 
mass  in  the  church  of  St.  Margaret,  in  celebration  of 
his  victory. 

The  siege  of  Rochelle,  while  in  progress,  excited 
much  interest  among  the  Protestants  throughout 
England  ;  and  anxious  appeals  were  made  to  Charles  I. 
to  send  help  to  the  besieged.  This  he  faithfully  pro- 
mised to  do ;  and  he  despatched  a  fleet  and  army  to 
their  assistance,  commanded  by  his  favourite  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham.  The  fleet  duly  arrived  off  Rochelle ; 
and  the  army  landed  on  the  Isle  of  Rhe',  but  were 
driven  back  to  their  ships  with  great  slaughter.  Buck- 
ingham attempted  nothing  further  on  behalf  of  the 
Rochellese.  He  returned  to  England  with  a  disgraced 
flag  and  a  murmuring  fleet,  amidst  the  general  dis- 
content of  the  people.  A  second  expedition  sailed  for 
the  relief  of  the  place,  under  the  command  of  the  Earl 
of  Lindsay ;  but  though  the  fleet  arrived  in  sight  of 
Rochelle,  it  sailed  back  to  England  without  making 
any  attempt  on  its  behalf.  The  popular  indignation 
rose  to  a  greater  height  even  than  before.  It  was 
bruited  abroad,  and  generally  believed,  that  both 
expeditions  had  been  a  mere  blind  on  the  part  of 
Charles  I.,  and  that,  acting  under  the  influence  of  his 
queen,  Henrietta  Maria,  sister  of  the  French  king,  he 
had  never  really  intended  that  Rochelle  should  be 
relieved.  However  this  might  be,  the  failure  was 
disgraceful ;  and  when,  in  later  years,  the  unfortunate 
Charles  was  brought  to  trial  by  his  subjects,  the  abor- 


134  PEACE  WITH  THE  HUGUENOTS.      CHAP.  vm. 

live  Rochelle  expeditions  were  bitterly  remembered 
against  him. 

Meanwhile  Cardinal  Richelieu  was  vigorously  pro- 
secuting the  war  against  the  Huguenots,  wherever 
they  stood  in  arms  against  the  King.  His  operations 
were  uniformly  successful.  The  Huguenots  were 
everywhere  overthrown,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years  they  had  ceased  to  exist  as  an  armed  power  in 
France.  Acting  in  a  wise  and  tolerant  spirit,  Richelieu 
refrained  from  pushing  his  advantage  to  an  extremity ; 
and  when  all  resistance  was  over,  he  advised  the  King 
to  issue  an  edict,  granting  them  freedom  of  worship 
and  other  privileges.  The  astute  statesman  was  doubt- 
less induced  to  adopt  this  course  by  considerations  of 
state  policy,  for  he  had  by  this  time  entered  into  a  league 
with  the  Swedish  and  German  Protestant  powers,  for 
the  humiliation  of  the  house  of  Austria ;  and  with  that 
object  he  sought  to  enlist  the  co-operation  of  the  King's 
Protestant  as  well  as  Roman  Catholic  subjects.  The 
result  was,  that,  in  1629,  "  the  Edict  of  Pardon  "  was 
issued  by  Louis  XIII.,  granting  to  the  Protestants 
various  rights  and  privileges,  together  with  liberty  of 
worship  and  equality  before  the  law. 

From  this  time  forward,  the  Huguenots  ceased  to 
exist  as  a  political  party,  and  were  distinguished  from 
the  rest  of  the  people  by  their  religion  only.  Being 
no  longer  available  for  purposes  of  faction,  many 
of  the  nobles,  who  had  been  their  leaders,  fell  away 
from  them  and  rejoined  the  Roman  Catholic  Church ; 
though  a  large  number  of  the  smaller  gentry,  the  mer- 
chants, manufacturers,  and  skilled  workmen,  remained 
Protestants.  Their  loyal  conduct  fully  justified  the 
indulgences  granted  to  them  by  Richelieu  ;  and  these 
were  confirmed  by  his  successor  Mazarin.  Repeated 
attempts  were  made  to  involve  them  in  the  civil  broils 
of  the  time,  but  they  sternly  kept  aloof,  and  if  they 
took  up  arms,  it  was  on  the  side  of  the  government. 
When,  in  1632,  the  Duke  of  Montmorency  sought, 
for  factious  purposes,  to  re-awaken  religious  passion 


CHAP.  vm.     LOYALTY  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS.  135 

in  Languedoc,  of  which  he  was  governor,  the  Hugue- 
nots refused  to  join  him.  The  Protestant  inhabitants 
of  Montauban  even  offered  to  march  against  him. 
During  the  wars  of  the  Fronde,  they  sided  with  the 
King  against  the  factions.  Even  the  inhabitants  of 
Rochelle  supported  the  regent  against  their  own  gover- 
nor. Cardinal  Mazarin,  then  prime-minister,  frankly 
acknowledged  the  loyalty  of  the  Huguenots.  "  I  have 
no  cause/'  he  said,  "  to  complain  of  the  little  flock ;  if 
they  browse  on  bad  herbage,  at  least  they  do  not  stray 
away."  Louis  XIV.  himself,  at  the  commencement  of 
his  reign,  formally  thanked  them  for  the  consistent 
manner  in  which  they  had  withstood  the  invitations 
of  powerful  chiefs  to  resist  the  royal  authority ;  while, 
at  the  same  time,  he  professed  to  confirm  them  in  the 
enjoyment  of  their  rights  and  privileges. 

The  Protestants,  however,  continued  to  labour  under 
many  disabilities.  They  were  in  a  great  measure  ex- 
cluded from  civil  office  and  from  political  employment. 
They  accordingly  devoted  themselves  for  the  most 
part  to  industrial  pursuits.  They  were  acknowledged 
to  be  the  best  agriculturists,  wine-growers,  merchants, 
and  manufacturers  in  France.  "  At  all  events,"  said 
Ambrose  Pare",  one  of  the  most  industrious  men  of  his 
time,  "  posterity  will  not  be  able  to  charge  us  with 
idleness."  No  heavier  crops  were  grown  in  France 
than  on  the  farms  in  Beam  and  the  south-western 
provinces.  In  Languedoc,  the  cantons  inhabited  by 
the  Protestants  were  the  best  cultivated  and  the  most 
productive.  The  slopes  of  the  Aigoul  and  the  Eperon 
were  covered  with  their  flocks  and  herds.  The  valley 
of  Vaunage,  in  the  diocese  of  Nismes,  where  they  had 
more  than  sixty  temples,  was  celebrated  for  the  rich- 
ness of  its  vegetation,  and  was  called  by  its  inhabitants 
"the  Little  Canaan."  The  vinedressers  of  Berri  and 
the  Pays  Messin,  on  the  Moselle,  restored  these  dis- 
tricts to  more  than  their  former  prosperity;  and  the 
diligence,,  skill,  and  labour  with  which  they  subdued 
the  stubborn  soil  and  made  it  yield  its  increase  of 


136  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS.    CHAP.  vin. 

flowers  and  fruits  and  corn  and  wine,  bore  witness  in 
all  quarters  to  the  toil  and  energy  of  the  men  of  The 
Religion. 

The  Huguenots  of  the  towns  were  similarly  indus- 
trious and  enterprising.  At  Tours  and  Lyons  they 
prosecuted  the  silk  manufacture  with  great  success. 
They  made  taffetas,  velvets,  brocades,  ribbons,  and 
cloth  of  gold  and  silver,  of  finer  qualities  than  were 
produced  in  any  other  country  in  Europe.  They  also 
carried  on  the  manufacture  of  fine  cloth  in  various 
parts  of  France,  and  exported  their  articles  in  large 
quantities  to  Germany,  Spain,  and  England.  They 
established  linen  manufactories  at  Vire,  Falaise,  and 
Argentine,  in  Normandy;  manufactories  of  bleached 
cloth  at  Morlaix,  Landerman,  and  Brest,  and  of  sail- 
cloth at  Rennes,  Nantes,  and  Vitrd,  in  Brittany ; — the 
greater  part  of  their  productions  being  exported  to 
Holland  and  England. 

The  Huguenots  also  carried  on  large  manufactories 
of  paper  in  Auvergne  and  the  Angoumois.  In  the 
latter  province  they  had  no  fewer  than  six  hundred 
paper-mills ;  the  article  they  produced  being  considered 
the  best  in  Europe.  The  mills  at  Ambert  supplied 
the  paper  on  which  the  choicest  books,  emanating 
from  the  presses  of  Paris,  as  well  as  of  Amsterdam 
and  London,  were  printed.  The  celebrated  leather  of 
Touraine,  and  the  hats  of  Caudebec,  were  almost  ex- 
clusively produced  by  Protestant  manufacturers ;  who 
also  successfully  carried  on,  at  Sedan,  the  fabrication 
of  articles  of  iron  and  steel,  which  were  exported 
abroad  in  large  quantities. 

Perhaps  one  reason  why  the  Huguenots  were  so  suc- 
cessful in  conducting  these  great  branches  of  industry, 
consisted  in  the  fact  that  their  time  was  so  much  less 
broken  in  upon  by  saints'  days  and  festival-days,  and 
that  their  labour  was  thus  much  more  continuous,  and 
consequently  more  effective,  than  in  the  case  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  portion  of  the  population.  Besides 
this,  however,  the  Protestants  were  almost  of  necessity 


CHAP.  VIII.      HONESTY  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS.  137 

men  of  stronger  character ;  for  they  had  to  swim 
against  the  stream  and  hold  to  their  convictions  in 
the  face  of  obloquy,  opposition,  and  often  of  active  per- 
secution. The  sufferings  they  had  endured  for  religion 
in  the  past,  and  perhaps  the  presentiment  of  heavier 
trials  in  the  future,  made  them  habitually  grave  and 
solemn  in  their  demeanour.  Their  morals  were  severe, 
and  their  piety  was  considered  rigid.  Their  enemies 
called  them  sour  and  fanatical,  but  no  one  called  in 
question  their  honesty  and  their  integrity.1 

"  If  the  Nismes  merchants,"  wrote  Baville,  Intendant 
of  that  province,  one  of  the  bitterest  persecutors  of  the 
Protestants,  "  are  bad  Catholics,  at  any  rate  they  have 
not  ceased  to  be  very  good  traders."  The  Huguenot's 
word  was  as  good  as  his  bond,  and  to  be  "  honest  as 
a  Huguenot  "  passed  into  a  proverb.  This  quality  of 
integrity — which  is  so  essential  to  the  merchant,  who 
deals  with  foreigners  whom  he  never  sees — so  charac- 
terised the  business  transactions  of  the  Huguenots, 
that  the  foreign  trade  of  the  country  fell  almost  en- 
tirely into  their  hands.  The  English  and  Dutch  were 
always  found  more  ready  to  open  a  correspondence 
with  them  than  with  the  Roman  Catholic  merchants ; 
although  religious  affinity  may  possibly  have  had  some 
influence  in  determining  the  preference.  And  thus  at 
Bordeaux,  at  Rouen,  at  Caen,  at  Metz,  at  Nismes,  and 
the  other  great  centres  of  commerce,  the  foreign  busi- 
ness of  France  came  to  be  almost  entirely  conducted 
by  Huguenot  merchants. 

The  enlightened  minister  Colbert  gave  every  en- 
couragement to  these  valuable  subjects.  Entertaining 
the  conviction  that  the  strength  of  states  consisted  in 
the  number,  the  intelligence,  and  the  industry  of  their 

1  It  is  worthy  of   note,  that  the  like  ;  not   a  word  is  to  be 

while  the  Huguenots  were  stig-  found  in  them  as  to  their  morality 

matised  in  contemporary  .Roman  and  integrity  of  character.    The 

Catholic  writings  as  "heretics,"  silence  of  their  enemies  on  this 

"  atheists,"  "blasphemers,"  "mon-  head  is  perhaps  the  most  eloquent 

sters  vomited  forth  of  hell,"  and  testimony  in  their  favour. 


138  COLBERT  AND  THE  HUGUENOTS.     CHAP.  vm. 

citizens,  he  laboured  in  all  ways  to  give  effect  to  this 
idea.1  He  encouraged  the  French  to  extend  their 
manufactures ;  and  at  the  same  time  he  held  out  in- 
ducements to  skilled  foreign  artizans  to  settle  in  the 
kingdom  and  establish  new  branches  of  industiy.  His 
invitation  was  accepted,  and  considerable  numbers  of 
Dutch  and  Walloon  Protestants  came  across  the  fron- 
tier, and  settled  as  cloth  manufacturers  in  the  northern 
provinces. 

Colbert  was  the  friend,  so  far  as  he  dared  to  be,  of 
the  Huguenots,  whose  industry  he  encouraged  as  the 
most  effective  means  of  enriching  France,  and  enabling 
the  nation  to  recover  from  the  injuries  inflicted  upon 
it  by  the  devastations  and  persecutions  of  the  pre- 
ceding century.  With  that  object  he  granted  privi- 
leges, patents,  monopolies,  bounties,  and  honours,  after 
the  old-fashioned  method  of  protecting  industry.  Some 
of  these  expedients  were  more  harassing  than  prudent. 
One  merchant,  when  consulted  by  Colbert  as  to  the 
best  means  of  encouraging  commerce,  answered  curtly 
— "  Laissez  faire  et  laissez  passer  : "  "  Let  us  alone, 

1  Some  of  the  measures  adopted  of  large  families  was  offered  in 
by  Colbert  to  increase  the  popu-  the  form  of  an  actual  pension  to 
lation,  and  to  supply  the  loss  of  the  fathers,  of  1000  livres  for  ten 
life  occasioned  by  war,  were  of  a  children,  and  2000  livres  for 
remarkable  character.  Thus,  in  twelve.  At  first  such  pensions 
1666,  a  decree  was  issued  for  the  were  only  offered  to  the  nobles, 
purpose  of  encouraging  early  but  two  years  later  they  were 
marriages  and  the  rearing  of  extended  to  plebeians  of  every 
large  families.  The  preamble  of  degree.  This  law  continued  in 
this  decree  set  forth  that  matri-  force  until  1683,  when  it  was 
mony  being  "the  fertile  source  abolished  by  another  royal  de- 
of  the  power  and  greatness  of  cree,  in  which  it  was  stated 
states,"  it  was  desirable  that  cer-  that  the  privileges  and  pensions 
tain  privileges  should  be  granted  granted  for  the  encouragement 
for  its  encouragement.  Accord-  of  matrimony  and  of  large  fami- 
ingly,  it  was  decreed  that  all  lies  had  to  be  repealed  •'  on  ac- 
young  married  men  were  to  be  count  of  the  frauds  and  abuses 
wholly  exempted  from  taxation  which  they  had  occasioned.'* 
until  their  twenty-fifth  year,  as  All  that  remained  of  Colbert's 
well  as  all  fathers  of  families  scheme,  was  the  famous  Hopital 
of  ten  children  and  upwards.  A  des  Enfants-trouves,  which  con- 
further  Dremium  on  the  rearing  tinues  to  the  present  day. 


CHAP.  vni.  GEXIUS  OF  COLBERT.  130 

and  let  our  goods  pass," — a  piece  of  advice  which  was 
not  at  that  time  either  understood  or  followed. 

Colbert  also  applied  himself  to  the  improvement  of 
the  internal  communications  of  the  country.  With 
his  active  assistance  and  co-operation,  Riquet  de  Bon- 
repos  was  enabled  to  construct  the  magnificent  canal 
of  Languedoc,  which  connected  the  Bay  of  Biscay 
with  the  Mediterranean.  He  restored  the  old  roads 
of  the  country,  and  constructed  new  ones.  He  esta- 
blished free  ports,  sent  consuls  to  the  Levant,  and 
secured  a  large  trade  with  the  Mediterranean.  He 
bought  Dunkirk  and  Mardyke  from  Charles  II.  of 
England,  to  the  disgust  of  the  English  people.  He 
founded  dockyards  at  Brest,  Toulon,  and  Rochefort. 
He  created  the  French  navy ;  and  instead  of  posses- 
sing only  a  few  old  ships  lying  rotting  in  the  harbours, 
in  the  course  of  thirty  years  France  came  to  possess 
190  vessels,  of  which  120  were  ships  of  the  line. 

Colbert  was  withal  an  honest  man.  His  predecessor 
Mazarin  had  amassed  enormous  wealth,  whilst  Colbert 
died  possessed  of  a  modest  fortune,  the  fruits  of  long 
labour  and  rigid  economy.  His  administration  of  the 
finances  was  admirable.  When  he  assumed  office,  the 
state  was  over-burdened  by  debt,  and  all  but  bankrupt. 
The  public  books  were  in  a  state  of  inextricable  con- 
fusion. His  first  object  was  to  get  rid  of  the  debt  by 
an  arbitrary  composition,  which  was  tantamount  to  an 
act  of  bankruptcy.  He  simplified  the  public  accounts, 
economised  the  collection  of  taxes,  cut  off  unnecessary 
expenditure,  and  reduced  the  direct  taxation — placing 
his  chief  dependence  upon  indirect  taxes  on  articles  of 
consumption.  After  thirty  years'  labour,  he  succeeded 
in  raising  the  revenue  from  thirty-two  millions  of  livres 
to  ninety-two  millions  net, — one-half  only  of  the  in- 
crease being  due  to  additional  taxation,  the  other  half 
to  better  order  and  economy  in  the  collection. 

At  the  same  time,  Colbert  was  public-spirited  and 
generous.  He  encouraged  literature  and  the  arts,  as 
well  as  agriculture  and  commerce.  He  granted 


140  "  THE  MOST  CHRISTIAN  KING."       CHAP.  vm. 

£160,000  in  pensions  to  men  of  letters  and  science, 
amongst  whom  we  meet  with  the  names  of  the  two 
Corneilles,  Moliere,  Racine,  Perrault,  and  Mezerai.  Nor 
did  he  confine  his  liberality  to  the  distinguished  men 
of  France,  for  he  was  equally  liberal  to  foreigners  who 
had  settled  in  the  country.  Thus  Huyghens,  the  dis- 
tinguished Dutch  natural  philosopher,  and  Vossius,  the 
geographer,  were  among  his  list  of  pensioners.  He 
granted  £208,000  to  the  Gobelins  and  other  manu- 
factures in  Paris,  besides  other  donations  to  those 
in  the  provinces.  He  munificently  supported  the 
Paris  Observatories,  and  contributed  to  found  the 
Academy  of  Inscriptions,  the  Academy  of  Sciences, 
and  the  Academy  of  Painting  and  Sculpture.  In 
short,  Colbert  was  one  of  the  most  enlightened, 
sagacious,  liberal,  and  honourable  ministers  who  ever 
served  a  monarch  or  a  nation. 

But  behind  the  splendid  ordonnances  of  Colbert, 
there  stood  a  superior  power — the  master  of  France 
himself,  Louis  XIV. — "the  Most  Christian  King." 
Richelieu  and  Mazarin  had,  by  crushing  all  other 
powers  in  the  state — nobles,  parliament,  and  people 
— prepared  the  way  for  the  reign  of  this  most  absolute 
and  uncontrolled  of  French  monarchs.1  He  was  proud, 
ambitious,  fond  of  power,  and  believed  himself  to  be 
the  greatest  of  men.  He  would  have  everything  to 
centre  in  the  king's  majesty.  At  the  death  of  Mazarin 
in  1661,  when  his  ministers  asked  to  whom  they  were 
thenceforward  to  address  themselves,  his  reply  was 
— "  A  moi."  The  well-known  saying — "  L'e'tat,  c'est 
moi,"  belongs  to  him.  His  people  took  him  at  his 
word.  Rank,  talent,  and  beauty  bowed  down  before 

1  The  engrained  absolutism  writing  when  a  child.  Instead 
and  egotism  of  Louis  XIV.,  M.  of  such  maxims  as  "  Evil  com- 
Feuillet  contends,  were  at  their  munications  corrupt  good  man- 
acme  from  his  earliest  years.  ners,"  or  "Virtue  is  its  own 
In  the  public  library  at  St.  reward,"  the  copy  set  for  him 
Petersburg,  under  a  glass  case,  was  this  :  "  Les  rois  font  tout  ce 
may  be  seen  one  of  the  copy-  qu'ils  veulent." — Edin.  Review. 
books  in  which  he  practised 


CHAP.  vlli.    DESPOTIC  POWER  OF  LOUIS  XIV.  141 

him  :  they  even  vied  with  each  other  who  should  bow 
the  lowest. 

While  Colbert  was  striving  to  restore  the  finances 
of  France  by  the  peaceful  development  of  its  industry, 
this  magnificent  king,  with  a  mind  far  above  mercan- 
tile considerations,  was  bent  on  achieving  glory  by  the 
conquest  of  adjoining  territories.  Thus,  while  his 
minister  was,  in  1668,  engaged  in  organising  a  com- 
mercial system,  Louis  wrote  to  Charles  II.  with  the 
air  of  an  Alexander  the  Great : — "  If  the  English  are 
satisfied  to  be  the  merchants  of  the  world,  and  leave 
me  to  conquer  it,  the  matter  can  easily  be  arranged ; 
of  the  commerce  of  the  globe,  three  parts  to  England, 
and  one  part  to  France."1  Nor  was  this  a  mere  whim 
of  the  King ;  it  was  the  fixed  idea  of  his  life. 

Louis  went  to  war  with  Spain.  He  overran  Flan- 
ders, won  victories,  and  France  paid  for  the  glory 
in  augmented  taxation.  He  next  made  war  with 
Holland.  There  were  more  battles,  less  glory,  but  the 
same  inevitable  increase  of  taxes.  War  in  Germany 
followed,  during  which  there  were  the  great  sieges  of 
Besanc.on,  Salin,  and  Dole  ;  though  this  time  there  was 
no  glory.  Again  Colbert  was  appealed  to  for  money ; 
but  France  had  already  been  taxed  almost  to  the  utmost. 
The  King  told  the  minister,  in  1673,  that  he  must  find 
sixty  millions  of  livres  more  ;  "  if  he  did  not,  another 
would."  Thus  the  war  had  become  a  question  mainly 
of  money,  and  the  money  Colbert  must  find.  Forced 
loans  were  then  had  recourse  to,  the  taxes  were  in- 
creased, honours  and  places  were  sold,  and  the  money 
was  eventually  raised. 

The  extravagance  of  Louis  knew  no  bounds.  Ver- 
sailles was  pulled  down,  and  rebuilt  at  enormous  cost. 
Immense  sums  were  lavished  in  carrying  out  the  de- 
signs of  Vauban.  France  became  surrounded  with  a 
belt  of  three  hundred  fortresses.  Various  other  spend- 
thrift schemes  were  set  on  foot,  until  Louis  had  accu- 

1  MIGNET— Negoc.  de  la  Success.  ffEsp.  iii.  63. 


142  DEATH  OF  COLBERT.  CHAP,  vilt 

mulated  a  debt  equal  to  £100,000,000  sterling.  Colbert 
at  last  succumbed,  crushed  in  body  and  mind.  He 
died  in  1683,  worn  out  with  toil,  mortified  and  heart- 
broken at  the  failure  of  all  his  plans.  The  people, 
enraged  at  the  taxes  which  oppressed  them,  laid  the 
blame  at  the  door  of  the  minister ;  and  his  corpse  was 
buried  at  night,  attended  by  a  military  escort  to  pro- 
tect it  from  the  fury  of  the  mob. 

Colbert  did  not  live  to  witness  the  more  disgraceful 
events  which  characterised  the  latter  part  of  the  reign 
of  Louis  XIV.  The  wars  which  that  monarch  waged 
with  Spain,  Germany,  and  Holland,  for  conquest  and 
glory,  were  carried  on  against  men  with  arms  in  their 
hands,  capable  of  defending  themselves.  But  the  wars 
which  he  waged  against  his  own  subjects — the  dragon- 
nades  and  persecutions  which  preceded  and  followed 
the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  of  which  the  vic- 
tims were  defenceless  men,  women,  and  children — were 
simply  ferocious  and  barbarous,  and  cannot  fail  in  the 
long  run  to  attach  the  reputation  of  Infamous  to  the 
name  of  Louis  XIV.,  in  history  miscalled  "  The  Great." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   HUGUENOT  PERSECUTIONS   UNDER  LOUIS   XIV. 

ONE  of  the  first  acts  of  Louis  XIV.  on  assuming  the 
supreme  control  of  affairs  at  the  death  of  Mazarin,  was 
significant  of  his  future  policy  with  regard  to  the 
Huguenots.  Among  the  representatives  of  the  various 
public  bodies  who  came  to  tender  him  their  congratu- 
lations, there  appeared  a  deputation  of  Protestant 
ministers,  headed  by  their  president  Vignole.  The  King 
refused  to  receive  them,  and  directed  that  they  should 
leave  Paris  forthwith.  Louis  was  not  slow  to  follow  up 
this  intimation  with  measures  of  a  more  positive  kind. 
He  had  been  carefully  taught  to  hate  Protestantism  ; 
and  now  that  he  possessed  unrestrained  power,  he  enter- 
tained the  notion  of  compelling  the  Huguenots  to  aban- 
don their  religious  convictions,  and  adopt  his  own.  His 
minister  Louvois  wrote  to  the  governors  throughout 
the  provinces — "His  Majesty  will  not  suffer  any  per- 
son in  his  kingdom  but  those  who  are  of  his  religion ;" 
and  orders  were  shortly  after  issued  that  Protestantism 
must  cease  to  exist,  and  that  the  Huguenots  must 
everywhere  conform  to  the  Royal  Will. 

A  series  of  edicts  was  accordingly  published  with 
the  object  of  carrying  the  King's  purpose  into  effect. 
The  conferences  of  the  Protestants  were  declared  to  be 
suppressed.  Though  worship  was  still  permitted  in 
their  churches,  the  singing  of  psalms  in  private  dwel- 
lings was  ordered  to  be  forbidden.  Spies  were  sent 
amongst  them  to  report  the  terms  on  which  the 
Huguenot  pastors  spoke  of  the  Roman  Catholic 


144    HUGUENOTS  DEti ARRED  FROM  OFFICE.    CHAP.  IX. 

religion,  and  if  any  fault  could  be  found  with  them 
they  were  cited  before  the  tribunals  for  blasphemy. 
The  priests  were  authorised  to  enter  the  chambers 
of  sick  Protestants,  and  entreat  them  whether  they 
would  be  converted  or  die  in  heresy.  Protestant  chil- 
dren were  invited  to  declare  themselves  against  the 
religion  of  their  parents.  Boys  of  fourteen  and  girls 
of  twelve  years  old  might,  on  embracing  Roman 
Catholicism,  become  enfranchised  and  entirely  free 
from  parental  control.  In  such  cases,  the  parents  were 
further  required  to  place  and  maintain  their  children 
in  any  Roman  Catholic  school  into  which  they  might 
desire  to  enter. 

The  Huguenots  were  again  debarred  from  holding 
public  offices ;  though  a  few,  such  as  Marshal  Turenne 
and  Admiral  Duquesne,  who  were  Protestants,  broke 
through  this  barrier  by  the  splendour  of  their  services 
to  the  state.  In  some  provinces,  the  exclusion  was  so 
severe  that  a  profession  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith 
was  required  from  simple  artizans — shoemakers,  car- 
penters, and  the  like — before  they  were  permitted  to 
labour  at  their  callings.1 

Colbert,  while  he  lived,  endeavoured  to  restrain  the 
King,  and  to  abate  the  intolerable  persecutions  which 
dogged  the  Huguenots  at  every  step.  He  continued  to 
employ  them  in  the  departments  of  finance,  finding  no 
honester  nor  abler  servants.  He  also  encouraged  the 
merchants  and  manufacturers  to  persevere  in  their 
industrial  operations,  which  he  regarded  as  essential 
to  the  prosperity  and  well-being  of  the  kingdom.  He 
took  the  opportunity  of  cautioning  the  King  lest  the 

1  A  ludicrous  instance  of  this  August,  1665.    The  corporation 

occurred  at  Paris,  where  the  cor-  nevertheless     notoriously     con- 

poration  of  laundresses    laid  a  tained  many  abandoned  women, 

remonstrance  before  the  council  but    the    orthodox    laundresses 

that    their    community,  having  were  more  distressed  by  heresy 

been    instituted    by   St.    Louis,  than  by  profligacy. — DE  FELICE, 

could  not  admit   heretics,   and  History    of  the  Protestants  of 

this  reclamation  was  gravely  con-  France. 
firmed  by  a  decree  of  the  21st 


CHAP.  ix.         THE  QUEEN-MOTHERS  BEQUEST.  !45 

measures  he  was  enforcing  might  tend,  if  carried  out, 
to  the  impoverishment  of  France  and  the  aggrandise- 
ment of  her  rivals.  "  I  am  sorry  to  say  it,"  said  he  to 
Louis,  "that  too  many  of  your  Majesty's  subjects  are 
already  amongst  your  neighbours  as  footmen  and  valets 
for  their  daily  bread  ;  many  of  the  artizans,  too,  are 
fled  from  the  severity  of  your  collectors ;  they  are  at 
this  time  improving  the  manufactures  of  your  ene- 
mies." But  all  Colbert's  expostulations  were  in  vain. 
The  Jesuits  were  stronger  than  he  was,  and  the  King 
was  in  their  hands.  Besides,  Colbert's  power  was  on 
the  decline ;  he  too  had  to  succumb  to  the  will  of  his 
royal  master,  who  would  not  relieve  even  the  highest 
genius  from  that  absolute  submission  which  he  required 
from  his  courtiers. 

In  1666,  the  Queen-mother  died,  leaving  to  her  son, 
as  her  last  bequest,  that  he  should  suppress  and 
exterminate  Heresy  within  his  dominions.  The  King 
knew  that  he  had  often  grieved  his  royal  mother  by 
his  notorious  licentiousness,  and  he  was  now  ready  to 
atone  for  the  wickedness  of  his  past  life,  by  obeying 
her  wishes.  The  Bishop  of  Meaux  exhorted  him  to 
press  on  in  the  path  his  sainted  mother  had  pointed 
out  to  him.  "  O  kings  ! "  said  he,  "  exercise  your  power 
boldly,  for  it  is  divine — ye  are  gods  !  "  Louis  was  not 
slack  to  obey  the  injunction,  which  so  completely  fell 
in  with  his  own  ideas  of  royal  omnipotence. 

The  Huguenots  had  already  taken  alarm  at  the 
renewal  of  the  persecution,  and  such  of  them  as  could 
readily  dispose  of  their  property  and  goods,  were 
beginning  to  leave  the  kingdom  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  themselves  in  other  countries.  To  prevent 
this,  the  King  issued  an  edict  forbidding  French  sub- 
jects to  proceed  abroad  without  express  permission, 
under  the  penalty  of  confiscation  of  their  goods  and 
property.  This  was  followed  by  a  succession  of  severe 
measures  for  the  conversion  or  extirpation  of  such  of 
the  Protestants — in  number  about  a  million  and  a 
half— as  had  not  by  this  time  contrived  to  make  their 

10 


146  INTOLERABLENESS  OF  THE  PERSECUTION.  CHAP.  ix. 

escape  from  the  kingdom.  The  kidnapping  of  Protes- 
tant children  was  actively  set  on  foot  by  the  agents 
of  Roman  Catholic  priests ;  and  the  parents  were 
subjected  to  heavy  penalties  if  they  ventured  to 
complain.  Orders  were  issued  to  pull  down  certain 
Protestant  places  of  worship,  and  as  many  as  eighty 
were  destroyed  in  one  diocese. 

The  Huguenots  offered  no  resistance.  All  that  they 
did  was  to  meet  together,  and  pray  that  the  King's 
heart  might  yet  be  softened  towards  them.  Blow 
upon  blow  followed.  Protestants  were  forbidden  to 
print  books  without  the  authority  of  magistrates  of  the 
Romish  Communion.  Protestant  teachers  were  inter- 
dicted from  teaching  children  anything  but  reading, 
writing,  and  arithmetic.  Such  pastors  as  held  meet- 
ings amid  the  ruins  of  the  churches  which  had  been 
pulled  down,  were  condemned  to  do  penance  with  a 
rope  round  their  neck,  after  which  they  were  banished 
from  the  kingdom.  Protestants  were  only  allowed  to 
bury  their  dead  at  daybreak  or  at  nightfall.  They  were 
prohibited  from  singing  psalms  on  land  or  on  water,  in 
workshops  or  in  dwellings.  If  a  priestly  procession 
passed  one  of  their  churches  while  psalms  were  being 
sung,  they  must  stop  instantly,  on  pain  of  fine  of  the  con- 
gregation, and  imprisonment  of  the  officiating  minister. 

In  short,  from  the  pettiest  annoyance  to  the  most 
exasperating  cruelty,  nothing  was  wanting  on  the  part 
of  the  Most  Christian  King  and  his  abettors.  Their 
intention  probably  was  to  exasperate  the  Huguenots 
into  open  resistance,  with  the  object  of  finding  a  pre- 
text for  a  second  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  But 
the  Huguenots  would  not  be  exasperated.  They  bore 
their  trials  bravely  and  patiently,  hoping  and  praying 
that  the  King's  heart  would  relent,  and  that  they 
might  yet  be  permitted  to  worship  God  according  to 
conscience. 

All  their  patience  and  resignation  were  in  vain. 
From  day  to  day  the  persecution  became  more  oppres- 
sive and  intolerable.  In  the  intervals  of  his  scandalous 


CHAP.  ix.  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON.  7.47 

amours,  the  King  held  conferences  with  his  spiritual 
directors,  to  whom  he  was  from  time  to  time  driven 
by  bilious  disease  and  the  fear  of  death.  He  forsook 
Madame  de  La  Valliere  for  Madame  de  Montespan, 
and  Madame  de  Montespan  for  Madame  de  Maintenon, 
ever  and  anon  taking  counsel  with  his  Jesuit  confessor 
Pere  La  Chaise.  Madame  de  Maintenon  was  the  in- 
strument of  the  latter,  and  between  the  two  the  "  con- 
version" of  the  King  was  believed  to  be  imminent. 
In  his  recurring  attacks  of  illness,  his  conscience 
became  increasingly  uneasy.  Confessor  and  mistress 
co-operated  in  turning  his  moroseness  to  account,  and 
it  was  observed  that  every  royal  attack  of  bile  was 
followed  by  some  new  edict  of  persecution  against  the 
Huguenots. 

Madame  de  Maintenon,  the  last  favourite,  was  the 
widow  of  Scarron,  the  deformed  wit  and  scoffer.  She 
belonged  to  the  celebrated  Huguenot  family  of 
D'Aubigny,  her  grandfather  having  been  one  of  the 
most  devoted  followers  of  Henry  IV.  Her  father  led 
a  profligate  life,  but  she  herself  was  brought  up  in  the 
family  faith.  A  Roman  Catholic  relative,  however, 
acting  on  the  authority  conferred  by  the  royal  edict, 
of  abducting  Protestant  children,  had  the  girl  forcibly 
conveyed  to  the  convent  of  Ursulines  at  Niort,  from 
which  she  was  transferred  to  the  Ursulines  at  Paris, 
where,  after  some  resistance,  she  abjured  her  faith  and 
became  a  Roman  Catholic.  She  left  the  convent  to 
enter  the  world  through  Scarron's  door.  When  the 
witty  cripple  married  her,  he  said,  "his  bride  had 
brought  with  her  an  annual  income  of  four  louis,  two 
large  and  very  mischievous  eyes,  a  fine  bust,  an  ex- 
quisite pair  of  hands,  and  a  large  amount  of  wit." 

Scarron's  house  was  the  resort  of  the  gayest  and 
loosest,  as  well  as  the  most  accomplished  persons  of  the 
time.  There  his  young  wife  acquired  that  knowledge 
of  the  world,  conversational  accomplishment,  and  pro- 
bably social  ambition,  which  she  afterwards  turned  so 
artfully  and  unscrupulously  to  account.  One  of  her 


148      "  CONVERSION"   OF  THE  HUGUENOTS.     CHAP.  ir. 

intimate  friends  was  the  notorious  Ninon  de  I'Enclos ; 
and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  appearance  of  that 
woman,  courted  by  the  fashionable  world  after  thirty 
years  of  polished  profligacy,  exercised  a  powerful  in- 
fluence on  the  subsequent  career  of  Madame  Scarron. 

At  Scarron's  death,  his  young  widow  succeeded 
in  obtaining  the  post  of  governess  to  the  children  of 
Madame  de  Montespan,  the  King's  then  mistress,  whom 
she  speedily  superseded.  She  secured  a  footing  in  the 
King's  chamber,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Queen,  who 
was  dying  by  inches,1  and  by  her  adroitness,  tact,  and 
pretended  devotion,  she  contrived  to  exercise  an  ex- 
traordinary influence  over  Louis, — so  much  so,  that  at 
length  even  the  priests  could  only  obtain  access  to  him 
through  her.  She  undertook  to  assist  them  in  effecting 
his  "  conversion,"  and  laboured  at  the  work  four  hours 
a  day,  reporting  progress  from  time  to  time  to  Pere  la 
Chaise,  his  confessor.  She  early  discovered  the  King's 
rooted  hatred  towards  the  Huguenots,  and  conformed 
herself  to  it  accordingly,  increasing  her  influence  over 
him  by  artfully  fanning  the  flames  of  his  fury  against 
her  quondam  co-religionists ;  and  fiercer  and  fiercer 
edicts  were  issued  against  them  in  quick  succession. 

Before  the  extremest  measures  were  resorted  to, 
however,  an  attempt  was  made  to  buy  over  the  Protest- 
ants wholesale.  The  King  consecrated  to  this  traffic 
one-third  of  the  revenue  of  the  benefices  which  fell  to 
the  Crown  during  the  period  of  their  vacancy ;  and  the 
fund  became  very  large  through  the  benefices  having 
been  purposely  left  vacant.  A  "  converted"  Huguenot 
named  Pelisson  was  employed  to  administer  the  fund. 
He  published  long  lists  of  "  conversions "  in  the 
Gazette ;  but  he  concealed  the  fact  that  the  takers  of 


1  Le  roi  tua  la  reine,  comme  foucauld  la  prit  par  les  bras,  lui 

Colbert,  sans  s'en  apercevoir.    .  dit :  "  Le  roi  a  besoin  de  vous. " 

.     .     .    Elle  mournt  (30  juillet  Et  il  la  poussa  chez  le  roi.     A 

1683).     Madame  de  Maintenon  1'instant  tons  les  deux  partirent 

la  quittait  expiree  et  sortaitde  la  pour    Saint-Cloud. — MICHELET, 

chambre,  lorsque  M.  de  la  Roche-  Louis  XIV.,  273-4. 


CHAP.  IX.  "CONVERSION"  ENFORCED.  149 

his  bribes  belonged  to  the  dregs  of  the  people.  At 
length  many  were  detected  undergoing  "  conversion  " 
several  times  over;  upon  which  a  proclamation  was 
published,  that  persons  found  guilty  of  this  offence 
would  have  their  goods  and  property  forfeited,  and  be 
sentenced  to  perpetual  banishment. 

The  great  body  of  the  Huguenots  remaining  im- 
movable and  refusing  to  be  converted,  it  was  found 
necessary  to  resort  to  more  violent  measures.  They 
were  attacked  through  their  affections.  Children 
of  seven  years  old  were  empowered  to  leave  their 
parents  and  become  converted ;  and  many  were  forcibly 
abducted  from  their  homes,  and  immured  in  convent- 
prisons,  for  education  in  the  Romish  faith  at  the  expense 
of  their  parents.  Another  exquisite  stroke  of  cruelty 
followed.  While  such  Huguenots  as  conformed  were 
declared  to  be  exempt  from  supplying  quarters  for  the 
soldiery,  the  obstinate  and  unconverted  were  ordered 
to  have  an  extra  number  quartered  on  them. 

Louvois,  the  King's  minister,  wrote  to  Marillac,  In- 
tendant  of  Poitou,  in  March  1681,  that  he  was  about 
to  send  a  regiment  of  horse  into  that  province.  "  His 
Majesty,"  he  said,  "has  heard  with  much  joy  of  the 
great  number  of  persons  who  continue  to  be  converted 
in  your  department.  He  wishes  you  to  persist  in 
your  endeavours,  and  desires  that  the  greater  number 
of  horsemen  and  officers  should  be  billeted  upon  the 
Protestants.  If,  according  to  a  just  distribution,  ten 
would  be  quartered  upon  the  members  of  the  Reformed 
religion,  you  may  order  them  to  accommodate  twenty." 
This  was  the  first  attempt  at  the  Dragonnades. 

Two  years  later,  in  1683,  the  military  executions 
began.  Pity,  terror,  and  anguish  had  by  turns  agitated 
the  minds  of  the  Protestants,  until  at  length  they  were 
reduced  to  a  state  of  despair.  Their  life  was  made 
intolerable.  Every  career  was  closed  against  them. 
Protestants  of  the  working  class  were  under  the  neces- 
sity of  abjuring  or  starving.  The  mob,  observing  that 
the  Protestants  were  no  longer  within  the  pale  of  the 


150  BUGUENOTS  OF  DAVPHINT.  CHAP.  IX. 

law,  took  the  opportunity  of  wreaking  all  manner  of 
outrages  on  them.  They  broke  into  their  churches,  tore 
up  the  benches,  and,  placing  the  Bibles  and  hymnbooks 
in  a  pile,  set  the  whole  on  fire ;  the  authorities  usually 
setting  their  sanction  on  the  proceedings  of  the  rioters 
by  banishing  the  burned-out  ministers,  and  interdicting 
the  further  celebration  of  worship  in  their  destroyed 
churches. 

The  Huguenots  of  Dauphiny  were  at  last  stung 
into  a  show  of  resistance,  and  furnished  the  King  with 
the  pretext  which  he  wanted  for  ordering  a  general 
slaughter  of  those  of  his  subjects  who  would  not  be 
"converted"  to  his  religion.  A  large  congregation  of 
Huguenots  assembled  one  day  amidst  the  ruins  of  a 
wrecked  church,  to  celebrate  worship  and  pray  for 
the  King.  The  Koman  Catholics  thereupon  raised  the 
alarm  that  this  meeting  was  held  for  the  purpose  of 
organising  a  rebellion.  The  spark  thus  kindled  in 
Dauphiny  burst  into  flame  in  the  Viverais,  and  even 
in  Languedoc;  and  troops  were  brought  from  all 
quarters  to  crush  the  apprehended  outbreak.  Mean- 
while the  Huguenots  continued  to  hold  their  religious 
meetings ;  and  numbers  of  them  were  found  one  day 
assembled  outside  Bordeaux,  where  they  had  met  to 
pray.  There  the  dragoons  fell  upon  them,  cutting 
down  hundreds,  and  dispersing  the  rest.  "It  was  a 
mere  butchery,"  says  Rulhieres,  "  without  the  show  of 
a  combat."  Several  were  apprehended  and  offered 
pardon  if  they  would  abjure;  but  they  refused,  and 
were  hanged, 

Noailles,  then  governor,  seized  the  opportunity  of 
advancing  himself  in  the  royal  favour  by  ordering  a 
general  massacre.  He  obeyed  to  the  letter  the  cruel 
orders  of  Louvois,  the  King's  minister,  who  prescribed 
desolation.  Cruelty  raged  for  a  time  uncontrolled  from 
Grenoble  to  Bordeaux.  There  were  massacres  in  the 
Viverais  and  massacres  in  the  Cevennes.  An  entire 
army  had  converged  on  Nismes,  and  there  was  so 
horrible  a  dragonnade  that  the  city  was  "  converted " 


CHAP.  IX.  CONFISCATION  OF  PROPERTY.  151 

in  twenty-four  hours.  Noailles  wrote  to  the  King  that 
there  had  indeed  been  some  slight  disorder,  but  that 
everything  had  been  conducted  with  great  judgment 
and  discipline;  and  he  promised  with  his  head  that 
before  the  next  25th  of  November  (1683)  there  would 
be  no  more  Huguenots  in  Languedoc. 

Similar  cruelties  occurred  all  over  France.  More 
Protestant  churches  were  pulled  down,  and  the  property 
that  belonged  to  them  was  confiscated  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  hospitals.  Many  of  the  Huguenot 
landowners  had  already  left  the  kingdom,  and  others 
were  preparing  to  follow  them.  But  this  did  not  suit 
the  views  of  the  monarch  and  his  advisers;  and  the 
Ordinances  were  ordered  to  be  put  in  force,  which 
interdicted  emigration,  with  the  addition  of  condem- 
nation to  the  galleys  for  life,  of  heads  of  families  found 
attempting  to  escape,  and  a  fine  of  three  thousand 
livres  against  any  person  found  encouraging  or  assist- 
ing them.  By  the  same  Ordinance,  all  contracts  for 
the  sale  of  property  made  by  the  Reformed  within  one 
year  before  the  date  of  their  emigration,  were  declared 
nullified.  The  consequence  was  that  many  landed 
estates  were  seized  and  sold,  of  which  Madame  de 
Maintenon,  the  King's  mistress,  artfully  improved  the 
opportunity.  Writing  to  her  brother,  for  whom  she 
had  obtained  from  the  King  a  gratuity  of  800,000 
francs,  she  said :  "  I  beg  of  you  carefully  to  use  the 
money  you  are  about  to  receive.  Estates  in  Poitou 
may  be  got  for  nothing ;  the  desolation  of  the  Hugue- 
nots will  drive  them  to  sell  more.  You  may  easily 
acquire  extensive  possessions  in  Poitou." 

Thus  were  the  poor  Huguenots  trodden  under  foot 
— persecuted,  maltreated,  fined,  flogged,  hanged,  or 
sabred;  nevertheless,  many  of  those  who  survived 
remained  faithful.  Towards  the  end  of  1684,  a  pain- 
ful incident  occurred  at  Marennes  in  Saintonge,  where 
the  Reformed  religion  extensively  prevailed,  notwith- 
standing the  ferocity  of  the  persecution.  The  church 
there  comprised  from  13,000  to  14,000  persons;  but 


152  MILITARY  OUTRAGES  IN  BEARb.       CHAP.  IX. 

on  the  pretence  that  some  children  of  the  new  con- 
verts to  Romanism  had  been  permitted  to  enter 
the  building  (a  crime  in  the  eye  of  the  law),  the 
congregation  was  ordered,  late  one  Saturday  evening, 
to  be  suppressed.  On  the  Sunday  morning  a  large 
number  of  worshippers  appeared  at  the  church-doors, 
some  of  whom  had  come  from  a  great  distance — their 
own  churches  being  already  closed  or  pulled  down, — 
and  amongst  them  were  twenty-three  infants  brought 
for  baptism.  It  was  winter.  The  cold  was  intense. 
No  shelter  was  permitted  within  the  closed  church ;  so 
that  the  poor  things  were,  for  the  most  part,  frozen  to 
death  on  their  mother's  bosoms.  Loud  sobbing  and 
wailing  rose  from  the  crowd.  All  wept — even  the  men. 
They  could  only  find  consolation  in  prayer ;  but  they 
resolved,  in  this  their  darkest  hour,  to  be  faithful  to  the 
end,  even  unto  death. 

A  large  body  of  troops  lay  encamped  in  Beam  in 
the  early  part  of  1685,  to  watch  the  movements  of  the 
Spanish  army;  but  a  truce  having  been  agreed  upon,  the 
Marquis  de  Louvois  resolved  to  employ  the  regiments 
in  converting  the  Huguenots  of  the  surrounding  dis- 
tricts after  the  methods  adopted  by  Noailles  at  Nismes. 
Some  hundreds  of  Bearnese  Protestants  having  been 
driven  by  force  into  a  church  where  the  Bishop  of  Lescar 
officiated,  the  doors  were  closed,  and  the  poor  people 
were  forced  to  kneel  down  and  receive  the  bishop's 
absolution  at  the  point  of  the  sword.  To  escape  their 
tormentors,  the  Reformed  fled  into  the  woods,  the 
wildernesses,  and  the  caverns  of  the  Pyrenees.  They 
were  pursued  like  wild  beasts,  brought  back  to  their 
dwellings  by  force,  and  compelled  to  board  and  lodge 
their  persecutors.  The  dragoons  entered  the  houses 
with  drawn  swords,  shouting,  "  Kill,  kill,  or  become 
Catholics."  The  scenes  of  brutal  outrage  which  occurred 
during  these  dragonnades  cannot  be  described.  The 
soldiers  were  among  the  roughest,  loosest,  cruellest  of 
men.  They  suspended  their  victims  with  ropes,  blow- 
ing tobacco-smoke  into  their  nostrils  and  mouths,  and 


CHAP.  ix.  THE  DKAGONNADES  IN  THE  SOUTH.  153 

practising  upon  them  a  hundred  other  nameless  cruel- 
ties; until  the  sufferers  promised  everything,  to  rid 
themselves  of  their  persecutors.  No  wonder  that  the 
constancy  of  the  Bearnese  at  length  yielded  to  the 
cruelty  of  their  persecutors,  and  that  they  hastened 
to  the  priests  in  crowds  to  abjure  their  religion. 

The  success  of  the  dragonnades  in  enforcing  conver- 
sion in  Beam,  encouraged  the  King  to  employ  the  same 
means  elsewhere ;  and  in  the  course  of  four  months, 
Languedoc,  Guienne,  Saintonge,  Poitou,  Viverais,  Dau- 
phiny,  Cevennes,  Provence,  and  Gex  were  scoured  by 
these  missionaries  of  the  Church.  Neither  age  nor 
sex  was  spared.  The  men  who  refused  to  be  con- 
verted were  thrown  into  dungeons,  and  the  women 
were  immured  in  prison-convents.  Louvois  thus  re- 
ported the  result  of  his  operations,  in  September 
1685  : — "Sixty  thousand  conversions  have  been  made 
in  the  district  of  Bordeaux,  and  twenty  thousand  in 
that  of  Montauban.  So  rapid  is  the  progress,  that 
before  the  end  of  the  month  ten  thousand  Protestants 
will  not  be  left  in  the  district  of  Bordeaux,  where 
there  were  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  on  the 
loth  of  last  month."  Noailles  wrote  to  a  similar 
effect  from  Nismes  : — "  The  most  influential  people," 
said  he,  "abjured  in  the  church  the  day  following 
my  arrival.  There  was  a  slackening  afterwards,  but 
matters  soon  assumed  a  proper  shape  with  the  help  of 
some  billetings  on  the  dwellings  of  the  most  obstinate." 
The  King  jocularly  called  the  dragoons,  who  effected 
these  conversions, — "  ses  missionnaires  bott&  !  " 

In  the  meantime,  while  these  forced  conversions  of 
the  Huguenots  were  being  made  by  the  dragoons  of 
De  Louvois  and  De  Noailles,  Madame  de  Maintenon 
continued  to  labour  at  the  conversion  of  the  King 
himself.  She  was  materially  assisted  by  her  royal 
paramour's  bad  digestion,  and  by  the  qualms  of  con- 
science which  from  time  to  time  beset  him  at  the 
dissoluteness  of  his  past  life.  Every  twinge  of  pain, 
every  fit  of  colic,  every  prick  of  conscience  was  sue- 


154  LOUIS  XIV.  "CONVERTED!"  CHAP.  IX. 

ceeded  by  new  resolutions  to  extirpate  heresy.  Penance 
must  be  done  for  his  incontinence ;  but  not  by  himself. 
It  was  the  virtuous  Huguenots  that  must  suffer  vica- 
riously for  him ;  and,  by  punishing  them,  he  flattered 
himself  that  he  was  expiating  his  own  sins.  "  It  was 
not  only  his  amours  which  deserve  censure,"  says 
Sismondi,  "although  the  scandal  of  their  publicity, 
the  dignities  to  which  he  raised  the  children  of  his 
adultery,  and  the  constant  humiliation  to  which  he 
subjected  his  wife,  add  greatly  to  his  offence  against 
public  morality.  .  .  .  He  acknowledged  in  his  judg- 
ments, and  in  his  rigour  towards  his  people,  no  rule 
but  his  own  will.  At  the  very  moment  that  his 
subjects  were  dying  of  famine,  he  retrenched  nothing 
from  his  prodigalities.  Those  who  boasted  of  having 
converted  him,  had  never  represented  to  him  more 
than  two  duties — that  of  renouncing  his  incontinence, 
and  that  of  extirpating  heresy  in  his  dominions."1 

The  farce  of  Louis'  "  conversion "  went  on.  In 
August,  1684,  Madame  de  Maintenon  wrote  thus : — 
"  The  King  is  prepared  to  do  everything  that  shall  be 
judged  useful  for  the  welfare  of  religion ;  this  under- 
taking will  cover  him  with  glory  before  God  and 
man ! "  The  dragonnades  were  then  in  full  career 
throughout  the  southern  provinces,  and  a  long  wail 
of  anguish  was  rising  from  the  persecuted  all  over 
France.  In  1685  the  King's  sufferings  increased,  and 
his  conversion  became  imminent.  His  miserable  body 
was  already  beginning  to  decay ;  but  he  was  willing 
to  make  a  sacrifice  to  God  of  what  the  devil  had  left 
of  it.  Not  only  did  he  lose  his  teeth,  but  caries  in  the 
jaw-bone  developed  itself;  and  when  he  drank,  the 
liquid  passed  through  his  nostrils.2  In  this  shocking 
state,  Madame  de  Maintenon  became  his  nurse. 

The  Jesuits  now  obtained  all  that  they  wanted. 
They  made  a  compact  with  Madame,  by  which  she 


DE  SISMONDI— Hijitoire  de  France,  sxv.  481. 
1  Journal  MS.  des  Medeciius,  1685. 


CHAP.  IX.     R  E  VO  CA  TION  OF  THE  EDICT  OF  NANTES.    1 55 


was  to  advise  the  King  to  revoke  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
while  they  were  to  consent  to  her  marriage  with  him. 
Pere  la  Chaise,  the  Royal  confessor,  advised  a  private 
marriage.  The  ceremony  was  performed  at  Versailles 
by  the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  in  the  presence  of  the 
confessor  and  two  more  witnesses.  The  precise  date 
of  the  transaction  is  not  known;  but  it  is  surmised 
that  the  Edict  was  revoked  one  day,  and  that  the 
marriage  took  place  the  next.1 

The  Act  of  Revocation  was  published  on  the  22nd 
of  October,  1685.  It  was  the  death-knell  of  the 
Huguenots. 


1  Madame  dit  (Mcmoires,  ii. 
108)  que  le  manage  eut  lieu 
deux  ans  apris  la  mort  de  la, 
reine,  done  dans  les  derniers 
mois  de  1685.  M.  de  Noailles 
(ii.  121)  etablit  la  meme  date. 
Pour  le  jour  precis,  on  1'ignore. 
On  doit  conjecture!  qu'il  eut  lieu 


apres  le  jour  de  la  Revocation, 
declaree  a  la  fin  d'octobre,  ce 
jour  ouleroitint  parole,  accorda 
1'acte  qu'elle  avait  consenti,  et  ou 
elle  fut  ainsi  engag6e  sans  retour. 
— MICHELET— Louis  XIV.  ct  la 
Revocation,  300. 


CHAPTER  X 

RENEWED  FLIGHT  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 

GREAT  was  the  rejoicing  of  the  Jesuits  on  the  Revoca- 
tion of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  Rome  sprang  up  with  a 
shout  of  joy  to  celebrate  the  event.  Te  Deums  were 
sung,  processions  went  from  shrine  to  shrine,  and  the 
Pope  sent  a  brief  to  Louis  conveying  to  him  the 
congratulations  and  praises  of  the  Romish  Church. 
Public  thanksgivings  were  held  at  Paris,  in  which 
the  people  eagerly  took  part, — thus  making  themselves 
accomplices  in  the  proscription  by  the  King  of  their 
fellow-subjects.  The  provost  and  sheriffs  had  a  statue 
of  Louis  erected  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  the  bas-reliefs 
displaying  a  frightful  bat,  whose  wings  enveloped  the 
books  of  Calvin  and  Huss,  and  bearing  the  inscrip- 
tion, Luduvico  Magno,  victori  perpetuo,  ecclesice  ao 
regum,  dignitatis  assertori.1  Lesueur  was  employed 
to  paint  the  subject  for  the  gallery  at  Versailles,  and 
medals  were  struck  to  commemorate  the  extinction 
of  Protestantism  in  France. 

The  Roman  Catholic  clergy  were  almost  beside 
themselves  with  joy.  The  eloquent  Bossuet  was 
especially  fervent  in  his  praises  of  the  monarch : — 
"  Touched  by  so  many  marvels,"  said  he  (loth  January, 
1686),  "  let  us  expand  our  hearts  in  praise  of  the  piety 
of  the  Great  Louis.  Let  our  acclamations  ascend  to 
heaven,  and  let  us  say  to  this  new  Constantino,  this 
new  Theodosius,  what  the  six  hundred  and  thirty 

1  The  statue  was  pulled  down  in  1792,  and  cast  into  cannon  which 
thundered  at  Yalmy 


CHAP.  X.        WHAT  THE  REVOCATION  INVOL  VED.         167 

fathers  said  in  the  Council  of  Chalce'don,  'You  have 
strengthened  the  faith,  you  have  exterminated  the  here- 
tics :  King  of  Heaven,  preserve  the  king  of  earth.'" 
Massillon  indulged  in  a  like  strain  of  exultation : 
"  The  profane  temples,"  said  'he,  "  are  destroyed,  the 
pulpits  of  seduction  are  cast  down,  the  prophets  of 
falsehood  are  torn  from  their  flocks.  At  the  first  blow 
dealt  to  it  by  Louis,  heresy  falls,  disappears,  and  is 
reduced  either  to  hide  itself  in  the  obscurity  whence 
it  issued,  or  to  cross  the  seas,  and  to  bear  with  it  into 
foreign  lands  its  false  gods,  its  bitterness,  and  its  rage." 

Let  us  now  see  what  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes  involved : — The  demolition  of  all  the  remaining 
Protestant  temples  throughout  France,  and  the  entire 
proscription  of  the  Protestant  religion ;  the  prohibition 
of  even  private  worship,  under  penalty  of  confiscation 
of  body  and  property  ;  the  banishment  of  all  Protes- 
tant pastors  from  France  within  fifteen  days;  the 
closing  of  all  Protestant  schools;  the  prohibition  of 
parents  to  instruct  their  children  in  the  Protestant 
faith  ;  the  injunction,  under  a  penalty  of  five  hundred 
livres  in  each  case,  to  have  their  children  baptized 
by  the  parish  priest,  and  brought  up  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  ;  the  confiscation  of  the  property  and 
goods  of  all  Protestant  refugees  who  failed  to  return 
to  France  within  four  months ;  the  penalty  of  the 
galleys  for  life  to  all  men,  and  of  imprisonment  for 
life  to  all  women,  detected  in  the  act  of  attempting 
to  escape  from  France  ! 

Such  were  a  few  of  the  dastardly  and  inhuman 
provisions  of  the  Edict  of  Revocation.  It  was  a  pro- 
clamation of  war  by  the  armed  against  the  unarmed — 
a  war  against  peaceable  men,  women  and  children — a 
war  against  property,  against  family,  against  society, 
against  public  morality,  and,  more  than  all,  against 
religion  and  the  rights  of  conscience. 

The  military  jacquerie  at  once  began.  The  very  day 
on  which  the  Edict  of  Revocation  was  registered,  steps 
were  taken  to  destroy  the  great  Protestant  church  at 


158  THE  MILITARY  JACQVJSR1X.  CHAP,  x 

Charenton,  near  Paris.  It  had  been  the  work  of  the 
celebrated  architect  Debrosses,  and  was  capable  of 
containing  14,000  persons.  In  five  days  it  was  levelled 
with  the  ground.  The  great  temple  of  Quevilly,  near 
Rouen,  of  nearly  equal  size,  in  which  the  celebrated 
minister  Jacques  Basnage  preached,  was  in  like  manner 
demolished.  At  Tours,  at  Nismes,  at  Montauban,  and 
all  over  France,  the  same  scenes  were  enacted, — the  mob 
eagerly  joining  in  the  work  of  demolition  with  levers 
and  pickaxes.  Eight  hundred  Protestant  temples  were 
thrown  down  in  a  few  weeks. 

The  provisions  of  the  Edict  of  Revocation  were 
rigorously  put  in  force.  They  were  also  followed  by 
other  edicts  still  more  severe.  The  Protestants  were 
commanded  to  employ  only  Roman  Catholic  servants 
under  penalty  of  a  fine  of  1000  livres,  while  Protestant 
servants  were  forbidden  to  serve  either  Protestant 
or  Roman  Catholic  employers.  If  any  men-servants 
were  detected  violating  this  law,  they  were  liable  to  be 
sent  to  the  galleys  ;  whereas  women-servants  were  to 
be  flogged  and  branded  with  a  fleur-de-lis — the  em- 
blazonment of  the  "  Most  Christian  King."  Protestant 
pastors  found  lurking  in  France  after  the  expiry  of 
fifteen  days,  were  to  be  condemned  to  death;  and 
any  of  the  King's  subjects  found  giving  harbour  to 
the  pastors  were  to  be  condemned — the  men  to  be 
galley-slaves,  the  women  to  imprisonment  for  life ! 
The  reward  of  5500  livres  was  offered  for  the  appre- 
hension of  any  Protestant  pastor. 

The  Huguenots  were  not  even  permitted  to  die  in 
peace.  They  were  pursued  to  death's  door,  and  into 
the  grave  itself.  They  were  forbidden  to  solicit  the 
offices  of  those  of  their  own  faith,  and  were  required 
to  confess  and  receive  unction  from  the  priests,  on 
penalty  of  having  their  bodies,  when  dead,  removed 
from  their  dwelling  by  the  common  hangman,  and 
flung  into  the  public  sewer.  In  the  event  of  the  sick 
Protestant  recovering,  after  having  rejected  the  viati- 
cum, he  was  to  be  condemned  to  perpetual  confinement 


CHAP.  x.  FLIGHT  FROM  FRANCE.  159 

at  the  galleys,  or  imprisonment  for  life,  with  confisca- 
tion of  all  his  property. 

Crushed,  tormented,  and  persecuted  by  these  terrible 
enactments,  the  Huguenots  felt  that  life  in  France  had 
become  intolerable.  It  is  true,  there  was  an  alterna- 
tive— conversion.  But  Louis  XIV.,  with  all  his  power, 
could  not  prevail  against  the  impenetrable  rampart  of 
conscience,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  Huguenots 
persistently  refused  to  be  converted.  They  would  not 
act  the  terrible  lie  to  God,  and  seek  their  personal 
safety  at  the  price  of  hypocrisy.  They  would  not 
become  Roman  Catholics  ;  they  would  rather  die. 

There  was  only  one  other  means  of  relief — flight 
from  France.  Yet  it  was  a  frightful  alternative, — to 
tear  themselves  from  the  country  they  loved,  from  their 
friends  and  relatives,  from  the  homes  of  their  youth 
and  the  graves  of  their  kindred,  and  fly — they  knew 
not  whither.  The  thought  of  self-banishment  was  so 
agonising  that  many  hesitated  long  and  prepared  to 
endure  much  before  taking  the  irrevocable  step ;  and 
many  more  prepared  to  suffer  death  rather  than  leave 
their  country  and  their  homes. 

Indeed,  to  fly  in  any  direction  became  increasingly 
difficult  from  day  to  day.  The  frontiers  were  strongly 
patrolled  by  troops  and  gensdarmes;  the  coast  was 
closely  watched  by  an  armed  coast-guard,  while  ships 
of  war  cruised  at  sea  to  intercept  and  search  outward- 
bound  vessels.  The  law  was  strictly  enforced  against 
all  persons  taken  in  the  act  of  flight.  Under  the 
original  edict,  detected  fugitives  were  to  be  condemned 
to  the  galleys  for  life,  while  their  denouncers  were  to  be 
rewarded  with  half  their  goods.  But  this  punishment 
was  not  considered  sufficiently  severe  ;  and  on  the  7th 
of  May,  1686,  the  King  issued  another  edict,  proclaim- 
ing that  any  captured  fugitives,  as  well  as  any  person 
found  acting  as  their  guide,  would  be  condemned  to 
death. 

Amidst  the  general  proscription,  a  few  distinguished 
exceptions  were  made  by  the  King,  who  granted  pei- 


160  THE  BANISHED  PASTORS.  CHAP.  X. 

mission  to  several  laymen,  in  return  for  past  public 
services,  to  leave  the  kingdom  and  settle  abroad. 
Amongst  these  were  Marshal  Schomberg,  one  of  the 
first  soldiers  of  France,  who  had  been  commander-in- 
chief  of  its  armies,  and  the  Marquis  de  Ruvigny,  one  of 
its  ablest  ambassadors, — whose  only  crime  consisted  in 
being  Protestants.  The  gallant  Admiral  Duquesne 
also,  the  first  sailor  of  France,  was  a  Huguenot.  The 
King  sent  for  him,  and  urged  him  to  abjure  his  re- 
ligion. But  the  old  hero,  pointing  to  his  gray  hairs, 
replied,  "  For  sixty  years,  sire,  have  I  rendered  unto 
Cresar  the  things  which  are  Cresar's ;  suffer  me  still 
to  render  unto  God  the  things  which  are  God's." 
Duquesne  was  permitted  to  end  his  few  remaining 
days  in  France,  for  he  was  then  in  his  eightieth  year ; 
but  his  two  sons  were  allowed  to  emigrate,  and  they 
shortly  after  departed  into  Holland. 

The  banished  pastors  were  treated  with  especial 
severity.  Fifteen  days  only  had  been  allowed  them 
to  fly  beyond  the  frontier ;  and  if  they  tarried  longer 
in  their  agonising  leave-taking  of  their  flocks,  they 
were  liable  to  be  sent  to  the  galleys  for  life.  Yet 
with  that  exquisite  malignity  which  characterised 
the  acts  of  the  monarch  and  his  abettors,  they  were  in 
some  cases  refused  the  necessary  permits  to  pass  the 
frontier,  in  order  that  they  might  thereby  be  brought 
within  the  ran<re  of  the  dreadful  penalties  proclaimed 
by  the  Act  of  Revocation.  The  pastor  Claude,  one  of 
the  most  eloquent  preachers  of  his  day,  who  had  been 
one  of  the  ministers  of  the  great  church  at  Charenton, 
was  ordered  to  quit  France  within  twenty-four  hours ; 
and  he  set  out  forthwith,  accompanied  by  one  of  the 
King's  footmen,  who  saw  him  as  far  as  Brussels. 

The  other  pastors  of  Paris  were  allowed  two  days 
to  make  their  preparations  for  leaving.  More  time 
was  allowed  to  those  in  the  provinces  ;  but  they  were 
prevented  carrying  anything  with  them, — even  their 
children, — all  under  seven  years  of  age  being  taken 
from  them,  to  be  brought  up  in  the  religion  of  their 


CHAP.  x.     THE  FRENCH  FRONTIER  GUARDED.  1C1 

persecutors.  Even  infants  at  the  breast  were  to  be 
given  up ;  and  many  a  mother's  heart  was  torn  by  con- 
flicting feelings, — the  duty  of  following  a  husband  on 
the  road  to  banishment,  or  remaining  behind  to  suckle 
her  helpless  infant. 

When  all  the  banished  pastors  had  fled,  those  of 
their  flocks  who  still  remained  steadfast  prepared  to 
follow  them  into  exile ;  for  many  felt  it  easier  to  be 
martyrs  than  apostates.  Those  who  possessed  goods 
and  movables,  made  haste  to  convert  them  into  money 
in  such  a  way  as  to  excite  the  least  possible  suspicion ; 
for  spies  were  constantly  on  the  watch,  ready  to  inform 
against  them.  Such  as  were  engaged  in  trade,  com- 
merce, and  manufactures,  were  surrounded  by  difficul- 
ties ;  yet  they  were  prepared  to  dare  and  risk  all 
rather  than  abjure  their  religion.  They  prepared  to 
close  their  workships,  their  tanneries,  their  paper-mills, 
their  silk-manufactories,  and  the  various  branches  of 
industry  which  they  had  built  up,  and  to  fly  with  the 
merest  wreck  of  their  fortunes  into  other  countries. 
The  owners  of  land  had  still  greater  difficulties  to 
encounter.  They  were  in  a  measure  rooted  to  the 
soil ;  and  according  to  the  royal  edict,  if  they  emi- 
grated without  special  permission,  their  property  was 
liable  to  immediate  confiscation  by  the  state.  Never- 
theless, many  of  these,  too,  resolved  to  brave  all  risks 
and  fly  from  France. 

When  the  full  tide  of  the  emigration  set  in,  it  was 
found  difficult  to  guard  the  extensive  French  frontier, 
so  as  effectually  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  fugitives. 
The  high-roads  as  well  as  the  by-ways  were  regularly 
patrolled  day  and  night,  and  all  the  bridges  leading 
out  of  France  were  strongly  guarded.  But  the  fugi- 
tives avoided  the  frequented  routes,  and  crossed  the 
frontier  through  forests,  over  trackless  wastes,  or  by 
mountain-paths,  where  no  patrols  were  on  the  watch  ; 
and  they  thus  contrived  to  escape  in  large  numbers 
into  Switzerland,  Germany,  and  Holland.  They  mostly 
travelled  by  night,  not  in  bands  but  in  small  parties, 

11 


162  GALLEY-SLA  VES  FOR  THE  FAITH.      CHAP.  x. 

and  often  singly.  When  the  members  of  a  family 
prepared  to  fly,  they  fixed  a  rendezvous  in  some  town 
across  the  nearest  frontier;  then,  after  prayer  and 
taking  a  tender  leave  of  each  other,  they  set  out 
separately,  and  made  for  the  agreed  point  of  meeting, 
usually  travelling  by  different  routes. 

Many  of  the  fugitives  were  of  course  captured  by 
the  King's  agents.  Along  so  extensive  a  frontier,  it 
was  impossible  to  elude  their  vigilance.  To  strike 
terror  into  such  of  the  remaining  Huguenots  as  might 
be  contemplating  their  escape,  the  prisoners  who  were 
caught  were  led  as  a  Show  through  the  principal 
towns,  with  heavy  chains  round  their  necks,  in  some 
cases  weighing  over  fifty  pounds.  Sometimes  they 
were  placed  in  carts,  with  irons  on  their  feet, — 
the  chains  being  made  fast  to  the  cart.  They  were 
forced  to  make  long  marches;  and,  when  they  sank 
under  fatigue,  blows  compelled  them  to  rise.  After 
they  had  been  thus  driven  through  the  chief  towns 
by  way  of  example,  the  prisoners  were  sent  to  the 
galleys, — where  there  were  already  more  than  a 
thousand  by  the  end  of  1686.  The  galley-slaves  in- 
cluded men  of  all  conditions  :  pastors  and  peasants ; 
old  men  with  white  hairs  and  boys  of  tender  years ; 
magistrates,  officers,  and  men  of  gentle  blood,  mixed 
with  thieves  and  murderers ;  and  no  discrimination 
whatever  was  made  in  their  classification,  or  in  the 
barbarity  of  their  treatment. 

These  cruelties  were,  however,  of  no  avail  in  check- 
ing the  emigration.  The  Huguenots  continued  to  flee 
out  of  France  in  all  directions.  The  Great  Louis,  still 
bent  on  their  "  conversion,"  increased  his  guards  along 
the  frontiers.  The  soldiers  were  rewarded  in  propor- 
tion to  the  captures  they  effected.  The  aid  of  the 
frontier  peasantry  was  also  invited,  and  thousands  of 
them  joined  the  troops  in  guarding  the  highways, 
the  bridges,  the  ferries,  and  all  the  avenues  leading 
out  of  France.  False  statements  were  published  by 
authority,  to  the  effect  that  such  of  the  emigrants  as 


CITAP.  x.          THE  SYSTEM  OF  EMIGRATION.  163 

had  reached  foreign  countries  were  destitute  and 
starving.  It  was  alleged  that  ten  thousand  of  them 
had  died  of  misery  in  England,  and  that  most  of 
those  who  survived  were  imploring  permission  to 
return  to  France  and  abjure ! 

In  vain  ! — the  emigration  continued.  Some  bought 
their  way  across  the  frontier  ;  others  fought  their  way. 
They  went  in  all  sorts  of  disguises ;  some  as  pedlars, 
others  as  soldiers,  huntsmen,  valets  and  beggars.  Some, 
to  disarm  suspicion,  even  pretended  to  sell  chaplets 
and  rosaries.  The  Huguenots  conducted  the  emigra- 
tion on  a  regular  system.  They  had  Itineraries  pre- 
pared and  secretly  distributed,  in  which  the  safest 
routes  and  hiding-places  were  described  in  detail, — a 
sort  of  "  underground  railroad,"  such  as  existed  in 
the  United  States  before  the  abolition  of  slavery 
Many  escaped  through  the  great  forest  of  Ardennes 
into  Luxembourg ;  others  through  the  Vosges  moun- 
tains into  Germany ;  and  others  through  the  passes  ol 
the  Jura  into  Switzerland.  Some  were  shot  by  the 
soldiers  and  peasantry;  a  still  greater  number  were 
sent  to  the  galleys;  yet  many  thousands  of  them 
nevertheless  continued  to  make  their  escape. 

Many  a  tradition  is  still  preserved  in  Huguenot 
families  of  the  hairbreadth  escapes  of  their  ancestors 
in  those  terrible  times.  Thus  De  la  Rive  (afterwards 
an  officer  under  William  III.)  and  his  wife  escaped 
across  the  frontier  into  Holland  in  the  guise  of  orange- 
sellers,  leading  a  donkey  and  panniers.  The  young 
D'Albiacs,  whose  blood  now  intermingles  with  the 
ducal  family  of  Roxburgh,  were  smuggled  out  of  the 
country  in  hampers.  The  sisters  De  la  Cherois,  whose 
descendants  still  exist  in  Ireland,  fled  in  disguise 
on  horseback,  travelling  only  after  dark,  and  conceal- 
ing themselves  in  the  woods  in  the  daytime.  The 
two  La  Condamine  chikh'en,  whose  descendants  still 
flourish  in  England  and  Scotland,  were  carried  off  in 
baskets  slung  across  a  mule,  travelling  only  at  night. 
The  ancestor  of  the  Courtaulds,  now  settled  in  Essex, 


164  CRUELTIES  TO  WOVEN.  CHAP.  x. 

was  carried  off,  when  quite  a  boy,  in  a  donkey's  pan- 
nier from  Saintonge  to  the  northern  frontier,  accom- 
panied by  a  faithful  servant,  who,  upon  approaching 
any  town  where  their  progress  was  likely  to  be 
opposed,  covered  up  the  child  with  greens  and  garden 
stuffs. 

The  flight  of  men  was  accompanied  by  that  of 
women,  old  and  young ;  often  by  mothers  with 
infants  in  their  arms.  The  hearts  of  the  women 
were  especially  lacerated  by  the  cruelties  inflicted  on 
them  through  their  affections  ;  by  the  tearing  of  their 
children  from  them  for  the  purpose  of  being  educated 
in  convents;  by  the  quartering  of  dragoons  in  their 
dwellings ;  and  by  the  various  social  atrocities  which 
preceded  as  well  as  followed  the  Edict  of  Revocation.1 
While  many  Protestant  heads  of  families  were  ready 
to  conform,  in  order  to  save  their  families  from  insult 
and  outrage  by  a  lawless  and  dissolute  soldiery,  the 
women  often  refused  to  follow  their  example,  and 
entreated  their  husbands  to  fly  from  the  land  where 
such  barbarities  had  become  legalised,  and  where  a 
daily  war  was  being  carried  on  against  womanhood 
and  childhood — against  innocence,  morality,  religion, 
and  virtue.  To  women  of  pure  feelings,  life  under 
such  circumstances  was  more  intolerable  even  than 
death. 


1  The  frightful  cruelty  of  these  dioceses  to  enforce  them  without 

measures    shocked    the    Roman  fail. — COQUEREL,    Histolre    des 

Catholic  clergy  themselves,  and,  Eglises  du  Desert,  i.  p.  68.     The 

to  their  honour  be  it  said,  in  priests  who  visited  the  slaves  at 

many    districts    they   refrained  the  galleys  were  horribly  shocked 

from  putting  them  in  force.     On  at  the  cruelties  practised  on  them, 

discovering    this,    Louis    XIV.,  The  Abbe  Jean  Bion  shed  tears 

furiously  zealous  for  the  extirpa-  at    the    sight    of    the    captives 

tion  of  heresy,  ordered  his  minis-  covered  with    bleeding  wounds 

ter  De  Portchartrain  to  address  a  inflicted  by  the  whip,   and    he 

circular  to  the  bishops  of  France,  could  not  resist  the  impression  : 

charging  them  with  want  of  zeal  "  Their  blood  preached  to  me/' 

in  carrying  his  edicts  into  effect,  says  he  in  his  Relation,  "  and  I 

and  calling  upon  them  to  require  felt  myself  a  Protestant." 
the  curates  of    their  respective 


CHAT.  X.     ESCAPE  Of  WOMEN  FROM  F&ANCE.  163 


Everywhere,  therefore,  were  the  Huguenot  women, 
as  well  as  the  Huguenot  men,  found  fleeing  into  exile. 
They  mostly  fled  in  disguise,  often  alone,  to  join  their 
husbands  or  fathers  at  the  appointed  rendezvous. 
Benoit  says  that  they  cut  off  their  hair,  disfigured 
their  faces  with  dyes,  assumed  the  dress  of  pedlars  or 
lacqueys,  and  condescended  to  the  meanest  employ- 
ments, for  the  purpose  of  disarming  suspicion  and  en- 
suring their  escape.1  Young  women,  in  many  cases  of 
gentle  birth,  who  under  ordinary  circumstances  would 
have  shrunk  from  the  idea  of  walking  a  few  miles 
from  home,  prepared  to  set  out  upon  a  journey  on  foot 
of  hundreds  of  miles,  passing  through  woods,  along  un- 
frequented paths,  across  mountain-ranges,  and  braving 
all  dangers,  so  that  they  might  but  escape,  though  it 
were  with  their  bare  lives,  from  the  soil  of  France. 

The  adventures  of  some  of  the  women  who  suc- 
ceeded in  making  their  escape  are  full  of  romance,  and 
cannot  be  read  without  painful  interest.  Thus,  Lord 
du  Bourdieu's  widow,  the  daughter  of  Count  de  la 
Yalade,  escaped  disguised  as  a  peasant,  with  her  infant 
son  slung  in  a  shawl  at  her  back,  passing  through  the 
frontier  guards  into  German  Switzerland,  from  whence 


1  Women  of  quality,  even  sixty  sickness,  dumbness,  and  even  in- 
and  seventy  years  of  age,  who  sanity.  Some  went  disguised  as 
had,  so  to  speak,  never  placed  a  men  ;  and  some,  too  delicate  and 
foot  upon  the  ground  except  to  small  to  pass  as  grown  men, 
cross  their  apartments  or  to  stroll  donned  the  dress  of  lacqueys, 
in  an  avenue,  travelled  a  hundred  and  followed  on  foot,  through 
leagues,  to  some  village  which  the  mud,  a  guide  on  horseback, 
had  been  indicated  by  a  guide.  who  assumed  the  character  of  a 
Girls  of  fifteen,  of  every  rank,  man  of  importance.  Many  of 
exposed  themselves  to  the  same  these  females  reached  Rotterdam 
hazard.  They  drew  wheelbar-  in  their  borrowed  garments,  and 
rows,  they  bore  manure,  panniers,  hastening  to  the  foot  of  the 
and  other  burdens.  They  dis-  pulpit,  before  they  had  time  to 
figured  their  faces  with  dyes  to  assume  a  more  decent  garb,  pub- 
embrown  their  complexion,  with  lished  their  repentance  of  their 
ointments  or  juices  that  blistered  compulsory  signature.  —  ELIE 
their  skins,  and  gave  them  a  BENOIT — Histoire  de  VEdit  de 
wrinkled  aspect.  Women  and  Nante*,  v.  561.  953. 
girls  were  seen  to  counterfeit 


166  JUDITB  MARIENGAULT.  CttAP.  *. 

she  found  her  way  to  London  and  rejoined  her  rela- 
tives.1 Another  young  married  woman,  equally  noble, 
though  untitled — Judith  Mariengault,  from  whom  some 
of  the  best  blood  in  America  has  come — has  herself  told 
the  story  of  her  flight.  She  says :  "  We  quitted  our 
home  in  the  night,  leaving  the  soldiers  in  their  beds, 
and  abandoning  to  them  our  home  and  all  that  it  con- 
tained. Well  knowing  that  we  should  be  sought  for 
in  every  direction,  we  remained  ten  days  concealed  in 
Dauphiny,  at  the  house  of  a  good  woman,  who  had 
no  thought  of  betraying  us."  Making  a  long  circuit 
through  Germany  and  Holland,  and  suffering  many 
misfortunes,  the  family  at  last  reached  London,  from 
whence  they  took  ship  to  Carolina.  But  their  suffer- 
ings were  not  ended.  "  The  red  fever,"  Judith  con- 
tinues, "  broke  out  on  board  the  ship  :  many  of  us  died 
of  it,  and  among  them  our  aged  mother.  We  touched 
at  the  island  of  Bermuda,  where  the  vessel  which 
carried  us  was  seized.  We  spent  all  our  money  there, 
and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that  we  procured  a 
passage  on  board  of  another  ship.  New  misfortunes 
awaited  us  in  Carolina.  At  the  end  of  eighteen  months 
we  lost  our  eldest  brother,  who  succumbed  to  such 
unusual  fatigues  ;  so  that  after  our  departure  from 
France  we  endured  all  that  it  was  possible  to  suffer.  I 
was  six  months  without  tasting  bread,  besides  working 
like  a  slave ;  and  during  three  or  four  years  I  never 
had  the  wherewithal  completely  to  satisfy  the  hunger 
which  devoured  me/'  "  Yet,"  adds  this  admirable 
woman,  "  God  accomplished  great  things  in  our  favour 
by  giving  us  the  strength  necessary  to  support  these 
trials." 

At  a  village  in  Champagne,  during  a  dreadful  day  of 
persecution,  when  blood  was  streaming  in  the  streets, 
two  soldiers  entered  the  house  of  a  Protestant,  and 
after  killing  some  of  the  inmates,  one  of  them,  seeing 


1  The  child  she  carried  across      to  manhood,  and  became  minis- 
the  frontier  on  her  back,  grew  up      ter  of  the  Savoy  church,  London. 


CHAP.  x.  HENRI  DE  DIB ON.  167 

an  infant  in  a  cradle,  rushed  at  it  with  his  drawn 
sword  and  stabbed  it,  but  not  fatally.  The  child  was 
snatched  up  by  a  bystander,  who  exclaimed,  "  At  least 
the  babe  is  not  a  Protestant,"  and  saved  it.1  The  child 
proved  to  be  a  boy,  and  was  given  to  a  Protestant 
woman  to  nurse,  who  had  a  male  child  of  her  own  at 
the  breast.  The  boys  grew  up  together.  When  old 
enough,  they  emigrated  into  Holland  together ;  entered 
the  ariny  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  accompanied  him  to 
England,  and  fought  in  Ireland  together.  There  they 
settled  and  married ;  and  the  son  of  the  one  emigre' 
married  the  daughter  of  the  other.  Such  were  the 
ancestors  of  the  Morell  family,  which  has  produced  so 
many  distinguished  ministers  of  religion  and  men  of 
science  in  England. 

Many  fled  with  nothing  but  their  clothes  and  their 
Bibles.  Such  was  the  case  of  Henri  de  Dibon,  whose 
short  story  is  contained  in  a  leaf  written  inside  the 
Bible 2  carried  with  him  in  his  flight,  as  thus  related 
to  the  late  Rev.  George  Stanley  Faber,  D.D.,  by  his 
maternal  grandmother,  Margaret  de  Dibon,  the  grand- 
daughter of  the  refugee  : — 

"  This  Bible  once  belonged  to  M.  de  Dibon,  a  Hugue- 
not gentleman,  whose  family  estate  and  residence  were 
situated  in  the  Isle  of  France. 

"  At  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  in  the 
year  1685,  M.  de  Dibon  was  arrested  by  order  of  Louis 
XIV. ;  and  on  his  firm  refusal  to  abandon  the  religion 
of  his  ancestors,  his  whole  property  was  confiscated, 
and  he  himself  was  thrown  into  prison. 

"  Before  the  arrival  of  the  dragoons  at  his  residence, 
he  had  time  sufficient  to  bury  this,  his  family  Bible, 
within  a  chest  in  his  garden.  There  he  left  it,  in 
hopes  of  some  day  recovering  what  he  esteemed  his 
best  treasure. 

1  A   Sketch  of  the  Life  and  3  This  French  Bible  is  still  in 

Character  of  the  Rev.  J.  Morell,  the  possession  of  the  Faber  family, 

LL.D.,  by  the  Rev.  J.  E.  Wref  ord,  and  is  greatly  prized  by  them. 

F.S.A. 


168  JEAN  MARTEILHE.  CHAP.  x. 

"  While  in  confinement  he  was  frequently  tortured 
by  the  application  of  fire  to  wreaths  of  straw,  which 
were  fastened  round  his  legs ;  but  through  the  grace  of 
God,  he  was  enabled  to  persevere  in  making  a  good 
confession.  This  particular  torture  was  especially  re- 
sorted to,  in  consequence  of  his  being  a  victim  to  the 
gout. 

"  He  at  length  effected  his  escape ;  but  ere  he  quitted 
his  native  land  for  ever,  he  had  the  resolution  to  visit 
the  estate  of  his  forefathers,  now  no  longer  his,  for  the 
purpose  of  recovering  his  Bible.  This  he  accomplished; 
and  with  the  word  of  God  in  his  hand,  he  finally 
reached  England  in  the  reign  of  William  III.  of 
glorious  memory." 

Jean  Marteilhe  of  Bergerac,  in  his  highly  interesting 
autobiography,1  has  described  the  remarkable  diffi- 
culties which  Huguenot  young  ladies  occasionally 
encountered  in  their  efforts  to  escape.  He  had  himself 
been  taken  prisoner  in  his  attempt  to  escape  across 
the  French  frontier  near  Marienbourg,  and  was  lodged 
in  the  gaol  at  Tournay  to  wait  his  trial.  While  lying 
there,  five  Huguenot  fugitives,  who  had  been  captured 
by  the  dragoons,  were  ushered  into  his  cell.  Three 
of  these  he  at  once  recognised,  through  their  disguises, 
as  gentlemen  of  Bergerac ;  but  the  other  two  he  failed 
to  recognise.  They  eventually  proved  to  be  two  young 
ladies,  Mademoiselle  Madras  and  Conceil  of  Bergerac, 
disguised  as  boys,  who  had  set  out,  though  it  was 
winter,  to  make  their  escape  from  France  through  the 
forest  of  Ardennes.  They  had  travelled  thirty  leagues 
on  foot,  under  dripping  trees,  along  broken  roads,  and 
by  almost  trackless  paths,  enduring  cold,  hunger,  and 

1  The  narrative  of  Jean  Mar-  under  the  fictitious  name  of  "J. 

teilhe,  entitled    Merrwires    d'un  Willington,"    in    the    following 

Protestant   condamne    aux    Ga-  year.    It  has  since  been  repub- 

Ures  de  France  pour  cause  de  lished    by   the   Religious    Tract 

Religion,    ecrits  par   lui-meme,  Society,  under  the  title  of  Auto- 

originally  appeared  at  Rotterdam  biography  of  a  French  Protestant 

in  1755,  and  was  translated  into  condemned  to  the  Galleys  for  tlie 

English   by    Oliver    Goldsmith,  sake  of  his  Religion. 


YOUTHFUL   GALLEY-SLAVES.  169 

privations,  "  with  a  firmness  and  constancy,"  says 
Marteilhe,  "  extraordinary  for  persons  brought  up  in 
refinement,  and  who  previous  to  this  expedition  would 
not  have  been  able  to  walk  a  league."  They  were, 
however,  captured  and  put  in  gaol;  and  when  they 
recognised  in  their  fellow-prisoners  other  Huguenot 
fugitives  from  Bergerac,  they  were  so  happy  that  they 
wept  for  joy.  Mai'teilhe  strongly  urged  that  the  gaoler 
should  be  informed  of  their  sex,  to  which  the  young 
ladies  assented,  when  they  were  removed  to  a  separate 
cell.  They  were  afterwards  tried,  and  condemned  to 
be  immured  in  the  Convent  of  the  Repentants  at 
Paris,  where  they  wept  out  the  rest  of  their  lives  and 
died. 

Marteilhe  himself  refused  all  the  tempting  offers,  as 
well  as  the  dreadful  threats,  which  were  made  to  induce 
him  to  abjure  his  religion ;  and  at  seventeen  years  of  age 
he  was  condemned  to  be  sent  to  the  galleys.  Marched 
from  gaol  to  gaol,  and  from  town  to  town,  loaded  with 
chains  like  his  fellow-prisoners,  he  was  first  placed  in 
the  galleys  at  Dunkirk,  where  he  endured  the  most 
horrible  hardships1  during  twelve  years  ;  after  which, 
on  the  surrender  of  Dunkirk  to  the  English,  he  was 
marched,  with  twenty-two  other  Protestant  galley- 
slaves,  still  loaded  with  chains,  through  Paris  and  the 
other  principal  towns,  to  Marseilles,  to  serve  out  the 
remainder  of  his  sentence. 

There  were  other  galley-slaves  of  even  more  tender 
years  than  Marteilhe.  Andrew  Bosquet  was  only  six- 
teen, and  he  remained  at  the  galleys  twenty-six  years. 
Francis  Bourry  and  Matthew  Morel  were  but  fifteen; 
and  only  a  few  years  since,  Admiral  Boudin,  maritime 
prefect  at  Toulon,  in  turning  over  the  ancient  records 
of  his  department,  discovered  the  register  of  a  child 

1  What  life  at  the  galleys  was,  the  galleys,    by  Athanase   Coc- 

may  be  learned  from  Marteilhe's  querel  fils,  entitled  Leg  Formats 

own  narrative  above  cited,  as  well  pour  la  Foi  (Galley- Slaves  for 

as  from  a  highly  interesting  ac-  the  Faith),  published  at  Paris  by 

count  of  the  Protestants  sent  to  Levy  Brothers. 


170  AGED  GALLEY-SLAVES.  CHAP.  X 

who  had  been  sent  to  the  galleys  at  twelve  years  of 
age  "  for  having  accompanied  his  father  and  mother  to 
the  preaching  " ! 

On  the  other  hand,  age  did  not  protect  those  found 
guilty  of  adhering  to  their  faith.  David  de  Caumont, 
baron  of  Montbelon,  was  seventy  years  old  when  he 
was  sent  to  the  galleys.  Antoine  Astruc  was  of 
the  same  age ;  and  Antoine  Morlier  seventy-one. 
Nor  did  distinction  in  learning  protect  the  hapless 
Protestants ;  for  the  celebrated  counsellor  of  the  King, 
Louis  de  Marolles,  was  sent  to  the  galleys  with  the 
rest.  At  first,  out  of  regard  for  his  eminence,  the 
gaoler  chained  him  by  only  one  foot ;  but  next  day,  by 
the  express  orders  of  Louis  the  Great,  a  heavy  chain 
was  fixed  round  his  neck.  It  was  while  chained  with 
all  sorts  of  malefactors  that  Marolles  compiled  his 
Discourse  on  Providence,  which  was  afterwards  pub- 
lished and  translated  into  English.  Marolles  was 
a  profound  mathematician — the  author  of  one  of  the 
best  treatises  on  algebra ;  and,  while  chained  in  his 
dungeon,  he  proposed  a  problem  to  the  mathematicians 
of  Paris  which  was  afterwards  inserted  in  the  works  of 
Ozanam. 

Another  distinguished  galley-slave  was  John  Huber, 
father  of  three  illustrious  sons — Huber  of  the  Bird/j, 
Huber  of  the  Ants,  and  Huber  of  the  Bees.  The 
following  touching  incident  is  from  the  elder  Huber's 
journal : — "  We  arrived  one  night  at  a  little  town, 
chained,  my  wife  and  my  children,  with  fourteen 
galley-slaves.  The  priests  came  to  us,  offering  freedom 
on  condition  that  we  abjured.  We  had  agreed  to  pre- 
serve a  profound  silence.  After  them  came  the  women 
and  children  of  the  place,  who  covered  us  with  mud. 
I  made  my  little  party  fall  on  their  knees,  and  we  put 
up  this  prayer,  in  which  all  the  fugitives  joined : 
'  Gracious  God,  who  seest  the  wrongs  to  which  we  are 
hourly  exposed,  give  us  strength  to  support  them,  and 
to  forgive  in  charity  those  who  wrong  us.  Strengthen 
us  from  good  even  unto  better.'  The  people  about  us 


.  X.         FLIGHT  FROM  FRANCE  SY  SEA.  171 

expected  to  hear  complaints  and  outcries  :  our  words 
astonished  them.  We  finished  our  little  act  of  worship 
by  singing  the  hundred  and  sixteenth  psalm.  At  this 
the  women  began  to  weep.  They  washed  off  the  mud 
with  which  our  children's  faces  had  been  covered,  and 
they  sought  permission  to  have  us  lodged  in  a  barn 
separate  from  the  other  galley-slaves,  which  was  done 
at  their  request." 

To  return  to  the  fugitives  who  evaded  the  dragoons, 
police,  and  coast-guard,  and  succeeded  in  making  their 
escape  from  France.  Many  of  them  fled  by  sea,  for  it 
was  difficult  to  close  that  great  highway,  or  to  guard 
the  coast  so  strictly  as  to  preclude  the  escape  of  those 
who  dared  to  trust  themselves  upon  it.  Some  of  the 
fugitives  from  inland  places,  who  had  never  seen 
the  sea  in  their  lives,  were  so  appalled  at  the  sight 
of  the  wide  and  stormy  waste  of  waters,  and  so 
agonised  by  the  thought  of  tearing  themselves  from 
their  native  land  for  ever,  that  their  hearts  sank 
within  them,  and  they  died  in  sheer  despair,  with- 
out being  able  to  accomplish  their  purpose.  Others, 
stronger  and  more  courageous,  prepared  to  brave  all 
risks ;  and  on  the  first  opportunity  that  offered,  they 
put  out  to  sea,  from  all  parts  of  the  coast,  in  open 
boats,  in  shallops,  in  fishing-smacks,  and  in  trading- 
ships,  eager  to  escape  from  France  in  anything  that 
would  float. 

"The  Protestants  of  the  seaboard,"  says  Weiss,  "got 
away  in  French,  English,  and  Dutch  merchant- vessels, 
whose  masters  hid  them  under  bales  of  goods  and 
heaps  of  coals,  and  in  empty  casks,  where  they  had 
only  the  bunghole  to  breathe  through.  There  they 
remained,  crowded  one  upon  another,  until  the  ship 
sailed.  Fear  of  discovery  and  of  the  galleys  gave 
them  courage  to  suffer.  Persons  brought  up  in  every 
luxury,  pregnant  women,  old  men,  invalids,  and  chil- 
dren vied  with  each  other  in  constancy  to  escape  from 
their  persecutors, — often  risking  themselves  in  mere 
boats  upon  voyages  the  thought  of  which  would  in 


172  PRIVATIONS  AND  DANGERS  AT  SEA.     CHAP.  X 

ordinary  times  have  made  them  shudder.  A  Normal 
gentleman,  Count  de  Marance',  passed  the  Channel,  in 
the  depth  of  winter,  with  forty  persons,  amongst  whom 
were  several  pregnant  women,  in  a  vessel  of  seven 
tons  burthen.  Overtaken  by  a  storm,  they  remained 
long  at  sea,  without  provisions  or  hope  of  succour, 
dying  of  hunger ;  he,  the  countess,  and  all  the  passen- 
gers, reduced,  for  sole  sustenance,  to  a  little  melted 
snow,  with  which  they  appeased  their  burning  thirst, 
and  moistened  the  parched  lips  of  their  weeping 
children,  until  they  landed,  half-dead,  upon  England's 
shores." 

The  Lord  of  Castlefranc,  near  Rochelle,  was  even 
less  fortunate  than  the  Count  de  Marance'.  He  was 
captured  at  sea,  in  an  open  boat,  while  attempting 
to  escape  to  England  with  his  wife  and  family.  Three 
of  his  sons  and  three  of  his  daughters  thus  taken, 
were  sent  to  the  Caribbee  Islands  as  slaves.  His  three 
other  daughters  were  detained  in  France  in  strict 
confinement ;  and  after  much  suffering,  during  which 
they  continued  steadfast  to  their  faith,  they  were  at 
length  permitted  to  depart  for  Geneva.  The  father 
contrived  in  some  way  to  escape  from  France  and  to 
reach  London,  where  he  lived  for  many  years  in 
Bunhill  Fields.  The  six  slaves  in  the  Caribbee  Islands 
were  eventually  liberated  by  the  crew  of  an  English 
vessel,  and  brought  to  London.  The  three  young  men 
entered  the  English  army,  under  William  HI.  Two  of 
them  were  killed  in  battle  in  Flanders,  and  the  third 
retired  on  half-pay,  settling  at  Portarlington  in  Ireland, 
where  he  died. 

Among  the  many  who  escaped  in  empty  casks  may 
be  mentioned  the  Misses  Raboteau,  of  Pont-Gibaud, 
near  Rochelle.  Their  relatives  had  become  "  new 
Catholics,"  by  which  name  the  converts  from  Pro- 
testantism, often  pretended,  were  called;  but  the  two 
young  ladies  refused  to  be  converted,  and  they  waited 
an  opportunity  for  making  their  escape  from  France. 
The  means  were  at  length  provided  by  an  exiled  rela- 


CHAP.  x.  THE  MISSES  RABOTEAU.  173 

live,  John  Charles  Raboteau,  who  had  emigrated  long 
before,  and  settled  as  a  wine-merchant  in  Dublin. 
He  carried  on  a  brisk  trade  with  the  French  wine- 
growers, and  occasionally  sailed  in  his  own  ship  to 
Rochelle,  where  he  became  the  temporary  guest  of  his 
relatives.  At  one  of  his  visits,  the  two  young  ladies 
confided  to  him  that  they  had  been  sentenced  to  adopt 
the  alternative  of  either  marrying  two  Roman  Catholic 
gentlemen  selected  for  their  husbands,  or  being  shut 
up  in  a  convent  for  life.  There  was  one  other  alterna- 
tive— flight, — upon  which  they  had  resolved,  if  their 
uncle  would  assist  them.  He  at  once  assented,  and 
made  arrangements  for  their  escape.  Two  horses  were 
obtained,  on  which  they  rode  by  night  to  Rochelle, 
where  lodgings  had  been  taken  for  them  at  the  house 
of  a  widow.  There  was  still,  however,  the  greater 
difficulty  to  be  overcome  of  getting  the  delicate  freight 
put  on  board.  Raboteau  had  been  accustomed  to  take 
to  Ireland,  as  part  of  his  cargo,  several  large  casks  of 
French  apples ;  and  in  two  of  such  casks  the  young 
ladies  were  carried  on  board  ship.  They  reached 
Dublin  in  safety,  where  they  settled  and  married,  and 
their  descendants  still  survive.1 

The  Rev.  Philip  Skelton  mentions  the  case  of  a 
French  gentlewoman  brought  from  Bordeaux  to  Ports- 
mouth by  a  sea-captain  of  his  acquaintance,  which 
shows  the  agonies  of  mind  which  must  have  been 
endured  by  these  noble  women  before  they  could 
bring  themselves  to  fly  alone  across  the  sea  to  England 
for  refuge.  This  lady  had  sold  all  the  property  she 
could  convert  into  money,  with  which  she  purchased 
jewels,  as  being  the  easiest  to  carry.  She  contrived  to 

1  One  of  them  married  Alder-  cated   and  sold  as  belonging  to 

man  Peter  Barre,  whose  son  was  "  Religionaires  fugitifs  da  roy- 

the  famous    Isaac  Barre,   M.P.,  aume  pour  cause  de  la  religion." 

and  Privy  Councillor  ;  the  other  Several  of  their  descendants  have 

married  Mr.  Stephen  Chaigneau,  filled  important    offices    in  the 

descended  from  an  ancient  family  State,    Army,    and    Church     of 

in  the  Charente,  where  their  es-  England  and  Ireland, 
tate  of  Labellouiere  was  confis- 


174  DA  VID  GARRIC.  CHAP.  X. 

get  on  board  the  Englishman's  ship  by  night,  bringing 
with  her  the  little  casket  of  jewels — her  sole  fortune. 
She  remained  in  a  state  of  the  greatest  fear  and 
anxiety  till  the  ship  was  under  sail.  But  no  sooner 
did  she  find  herself  fairly  out  at  sea  and  the  land 
disappearing  in  the  distance,  than  she  breathed  freely, 
and  began  to  give  way  to  her  feelings  of  joy  and 
gratitude.  This  increased  in  proportion  as  she  neared 
England,  though  about  to  land  there  an  exile,  a  solitary 
woman,  and  a  foreigner  ;  and  no  sooner  did  she  reach 
the  shore  than  she  threw  herself  down  and  passion- 
ately kissed  the  ground,  exclaiming,  "  Have  I  at  last 
attained  my  wishes  ?  Yes,  gracious  God !  I  thank 
Thee  for  this  deliverance  from  a  tyranny  exercised 
over  my  conscience,  and  for  placing  me  where  Thou 
alone  art  to  reign  over  it  by  Thy  word,  till  I  shall 
finally  lay  down  my  head  upon  this  beloved  earth  ! " l 

Another  notable  escape  by  sea  was  that  of  David 
Garric,  or  Garigue,  the  grandfather  of  Garrick,  the 
celebrated  actor.  He  first  escaped  himself,  next  his 
wife  escaped,  and  finally,  more  than  two  years  later, 
their  only  child  escaped,  whom  they  had  left  an  infant 
at  nurse.  The  story  is  best  told  in  the  touching  little 
narrative  of  the  refugee  himself: — 

"  The  5th  October,  1685. — I,  David  Garric,  arrived  at 
London,  having  come  from  Bourdeaux  the  31st  August, 
running  away  from  the  persecution  of  our  Holy  Re- 
ligion. I  passed  through  Saintonge,  Poitou,  and  Brit- 
tany. I  embarked  at  St.  Malo  for  Guernsey,  where  I 
remained  for  the  space  of  a  month,  leaving  everything, 
even  my  wife  and  a  little  boy  four  months  old,  called 
Peter  Garric,  who  was  then  out  at  nurse  at  the  Bastide, 
near  Bourdeaux. 

"  The  5th  December,  1685,  English  style. — God  gave 
me  my  wife  at  London.  She  embarked  from  Bour- 
deaux the  19th  November,  from  whence  she  saved 

1  PHILIP  SKELTON  [Rector  of      passion  for  the  French  Protest 
Fintona,  county  Tyrone] — Com-      ant  Refugees  recommended,  1751 


CHAP.  x.          SUFFOCATION  OF  UUOUENOTS.  175 

herself,  and  in  a  bark  of  14  ton,  being  hid  in  a  hole, 
and  was  a  month  upon  sea  with  strong  tempests,  and 
at  great  peril  of  being  lost  and  taken  by  our  perse- 
cutors, who  are  very  inveterate.  Pray  God  convert 
them.  *  *  * 

"The  22d  May,  1687.— Little  Peter  arrived  at  Lon- 
don, by  the  grace  of  God,  in  the  ship  of  John  White, 
with  a  servant,  Mary  Mongorier,  and  I  paid  for  their 
passage  22  guineas." l 

The  measures  adopted  by  the  French  king  to  pre- 
vent the  escape  of  fugitives  by  sea,  proved  as  futile  as 
those  employed  to  prevent  their  escape  by  land.  The 
coast-guard  was  increased,  and  more  tempting  rewards 
were  offered  for  the  capture  of  the  flying  Protestants. 
The  royal  cruisers  were  set  to  watch  every  harbour 
and  inlet,  to  prevent  any  vessel  setting  sail  without  a 
most  rigid  search  of  the  cargo  for  concealed  Hugue- 
nots. 

When  it  became  known  that  many  had  escaped  in 
empty  casks,  provision  was  made  to  meet  the  case,  and 
the  royal  order  was  issued  that,  before  any  ship  was 
allowed  to  set  sail  for  a  foreign  port,  the  hold  should 
be  fumigated  with  deadly  gas,  so  that  any  hidden 
Huguenot  who  could  not  be  detected  might  thus  be 
suffocated.2  This  expedient  was  only  of  a  piece  with 
the  refined  and  malignant  cruelty  of  the  Great  Louis. 
But  it  failed  like  the  other  measures ;  for  the  Huguenots 
still  continued  to  make  their  escape. 

It  can  never  be  known,  with  anything  approaching 
accuracy,  how  many  persons  fled  from  France  during 
this  Great  Exodus.  Vauban,  the  military  engineer, 
writing  only  a  few  years  after  the  Revocation,  said 

1  Our    acknowledgments    are  sition  qui,  lorsq'on  y  mettait  le 
due  to  Sir  Bernard  Burke,  Ulster  feu  developpait  une  odeur  mor- 
king-at-arms,  for  the  copy  of  the  telle  dans  tons   les   recoins  du 
document  (Heard  Collection.  Col-  navire,  de  sorte  que,  en  la  respi- 
lepe    of    Arms,    London)   from  rant,  ceux  qui  s'etaient  caches 
which  we  make  the  above  ex-  trouvaient  une  mort  certaine  I " 
tracts.  — ROYER — Hittoire  de  la  Colon  ie 

2  "  On  se  serrait  d'une  compo-      Fran$ai$e  en  Prnste,  p.  153. 


176  GREAT  LOSS  TO  FRANCE.  CHAP.  X 

that  "  France  had  lost  a  hundred  thousand  inhabitants, 
sixty  millions  of  money,  nine  thousand  sailors,  twelve 
thousand  tried  soldiers,  six  hundred  officers,  and  its 
most  nourishing  manufactures."  But  the  emigration 
was  not  then  by  any  means  at  its  height;  and  for 
many  years  after,  the  Huguenots  continued  to  swarm 
out  of  France  and  join  their  exiled  compatriots  in 
other  lands.  Sismondi  computed  the  total  number  of 
emigrants  at  from  three  to  four  hundred  thousand ; 
and  he  was  further  of  opinion  that  an  equal  number 
perished  in  prison,  on  the  scaffold,  at  the  galleys,  and 
in  their  attempts  to  escape.1 

The  emigration  gave  the  death-blow  to  several  great 
branches  of  industry.  Hundreds  of  manufactories 
were  closed,  whole  villages  were  depopulated,  many 
large  towns  became  half  deserted,  and  a  large  extent 
of  land  went  entirely  out  of  cultivation.2  The  skilled 
Dutch  cloth-workers,  whom  Colbert  had  induced  to 
settle  at  Abbeville,  emigrated  in  a  body,  and  their 
manufacture  was  extinguished.  At  Tours,  where  some 
40,000  persons  had  been  employed  in  the  silk  manu- 
factures, the  number  fell  to  little  more  than  4000 ;  and 
instead  of  8000  looms  at  work  there  remained  only 
about  100 ;  while  of  800  mills,  730  were  closed.  Of 
the  400  tanneries  which  had  before  enriched  Lorraine, 
Weiss  says  there  remained  but  54  in  1698.  The  popu- 
lation of  Nantes,  one  of  the  most  prosperous  cities  of 
France,  was  reduced  from  80,000  to  less  than  one-half; 
and  a  blow  was  struck  at  its  prosperity  from  which  it 
has  never  recovered. 


1  Boulainvillers  states  that  un-  in  the  later  years  of  Louis  XIV. 's 
der  the  intendancy  of  Lamoignon  reign  : — "  The  cultivation  of  the 
de  Baville,  a  hundred  thousand  soil  is   almost   abandoned ;  the 
persons  were  destroyed  by  pre-  towns  and  the  country  are  becom- 
mature  death  in  the  single  pro-  ing  depopulated.    All  industries 
vince  of    Languedoc,   and  that  languish,  and  fail  to  support  the 
one-tenth  of  them  perished  by  labourers.    France  has  become  as 
fire,  strangulation,  or  the  wheel.  but  a  huge  hospital  without  pro- 
— DE  FELICE,  p.  340.  visions." 

2  Fenelon  thus  describes  France 


CHAP.  ^.PROTESTANTISM  APPARENTLY  STAMPTOUT.W1. 

The  Revocation  proved  almost  as  fatal  to  the  pros- 
perity of  Lyons  as  it  did  to  that  of  Tours  and  Nantes. 
That  city  had  originally  been  indebted  for  its  silk  manu- 
factures to  the  civil  and  religious  wars  of  Sicily,  Italy, 
and  Spain,  which  occasioned  numerous  refugees  from 
those  countries  to  settle  in  Lyons  and  carry  on  their 
trade.  And  now  the  same  religious  persecutions  which 
had  made  the  prosperity  of  Lyons,  threatened  to  prove 
its  ruin.  Of  about  12,000  artizans  employed  in  the 
silk  manufacture,  some  9000  fled  into  Switzerland 
and  other  countries.  The  industry  of  the  place  was 
for  a  time  completely  prostrated.  More  than  a  hun- 
dred years  passed  before  it  was  restored  to  its  former 
prosperity ;  and  then  only  to  suffer  another  equally 
staggering  blow  from  the  violence  and  outrages 
which  accompanied  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution. 

Although  Protestantism  seemed  to  be  utterly 
stamped  out  in  France  during  the  century  which 
followed  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes — 
although  its  ministers  were  banished,  its  churches  and 
schools  suppressed,  and  it  was  placed  entirely  beyond 
the  pale  of  the  law, — it  nevertheless  continued  to  have 
an  active  existence.  Banished  ministers  from  time  to 
time  returned  secretly,  to  minister  to  their  flocks ;  but 
they  were  liable  to  be  seized  and  suffer  death  in  conse- 
quence,— as  many  as  twenty-nine  Protestant  pastors 
having  been  hanged  between  1684  and  1762.  During 
the  same  period  thousands  of  their  followers  were  sent 
to  the  galleys,  and  died  there.  The  names  of  1546  ot 
these  illustrious  galle3'-slaves  are  given  in  Les  Formats 
pour  la  Foi,lout  the  greater  number  have  long  since  been 
forgotten  on  earth.  The  principal  offence  for  which 
they  were  sent  to  the  galleys  was,  for  attending  the 
Protestant  meetings,  which  still  continued  to  be  held ; 
for  the  Protestants,  after  the  Revocation,  constituted  a 
sort  of  underground  church,  regularly  organised,  though 
its  meetings  were  held  by  night,  in  forests,  in  caves 
among  the  hills,  or  in  unsuspected  places,  and  even 

12 


178 


CHURCHES  OF  THE  DESERT. 


CHAP.  X. 


in  the  heart  of  large  towns  and  cities,  in  all  parts  of 
France.1 

Without  pursuing  the  subject  of  the  sufferings  of 
the  Huguenots  who  remained  in  France, — of  whom 
there  were  more  than  a  million,  notwithstanding  the 
frightful  persecutions  to  which  they  continued  to  be 
subjected, — let  us  now  follow  the  fugitives  into  the 
countries  in  which  they  found  a  refuge,  and  observe 
the  important  influence  which  they  exercised,  not 
only  on  their  industrial  prosperity,  but  also  on  their 
political  history. 


1  The  Churches  of  the  Desert, 
as  they  were  called,  continued  to 
exist  down  to  the  period  of  the 
French  Revolution,  when  Protes- 
tantism in  France  was  again  al- 
lowed openly  to  show  itself.  An 
interesting  account  of  the  Pro- 
testant church  in  France  during 
this  "  underground  "  period  is  to 


be  found  in  Charles  Coqnerel's 
Histolre  des  Eglises  du  Desert,  in 
2  vols.,  Paris,  1841.  The  present 
author  has  also  endeavoured  to 
describe  the  same  subject  in  a 
separate  book,  entitled  Tlie  Hu- 
guenots in  France,  after  the 
Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  THE  ENGLISH  REVOLUTION 
OF   1688. 

THE  Exodus  of  the  French  Protestants  exercised  a 
highly  important  influence  on  European  politics. 
Among  its  other  effects,  it  contributed  to  establish 
religious  and  political  freedom  in  Switzerland,  and  to 
render  it,  in  a  measure,  the  Patmos  of  Europe.  It 
strengthened  the  foundations  of  liberty  in  the  then 
comparatively  insignificant  electorate  of  Branden- 
burg,— which  has  since  become  developed  into  the 
great  German  Empire.  It  fostered  the  strength  and 
increased  the  political  power  and  commercial  wealth  of 
the  States  of  Holland.  And,  lastly,  it  contributed 
to  the  success  of  the  English  Revolution  of  1C88,  and 
to  the  establishment  of  the  British  Constitution  on  its 
present  basis. 

Long  before  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
the  persecutions  of  the  French  Protestants  had  excited 
the  pity  and  indignation  of  Europe ;  and  Switzerland 
and  the  northern  nations  vied  with  each  other  in  ex- 
tending to  them  their  sympathy  and  their  help.  The 
principal  seats  of  Protestantism  being  in  Languedoc, 
Dauphiny,  and  the  south  western  provinces  of  France, 
the  first  emigrants  readily  passed  across  the  frontier, 
through  Jura  and  Savoy  into  Switzerland,  where  they 
made  for  the  asylum  of  Geneva.  That  city  had 
in  a  measure  been  created  by  the  genius  of  Calvin, 
who  strove  to  make  it  a  sort  of  Christian  Sparta. 
Under  his  regime  the  place  became  entirely  changed 


180  INDEPENDENCE  OF  GENEVA.          CHAP.  XI. 

It  had  already  emancipated  itself  from  the  authority 
of  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  and  established  alliances  with 
adjoining  cantons  for  the  purpose  of  ensuring  its 
independence,  when  Calvin  undertook  the  administra- 
tion of  its  ecclesiastical  policy.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
as  to  the  rigour  as  well  as  the  severity  of  Calvin's  rule ; 
but  Geneva  was  surrounded  by  ferocious  enemies,  and 
had  to  struggle  for  its  very  life.  Mignet  has  in  a  few 
words  described  the  rapid  progress  made  by  that  city : 
"In  less  than  half  a  century  the  face  of  Geneva 
had  become  entirely  changed.  It  passed  through 
three  consecutive  revolutions.  The  first  delivered 
it  from  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  who  lost  his  delegated 
authority  in  the  attempt  to  convert  it  into  an  abso- 
lute sovereignty.  The  second  introduced  into  Geneva 
the  Reformed  worship,  by  which  the  sovereignty 
of  the  bishop  was  destroyed  The  third  constituted 
the  Protestant  administration  of  Geneva,  and  the 
subordination  to  it  of  the  civil  power.  The  first  of 
these  revolutions  gave  Geneva  its  independence  of  the 
ducal  power ;  the  second,  its  moral  regeneration  and 
political  sovereignty ;  the  third  its  greatness.  These 
three  revolutions  not  only  followed  each  other ;  they 
were  linked  together.  Switzerland  was  bent  on  liberty, 
the  human  mind  on  emancipation.  The  liberty  of 
Switzerland  made  the  independence  of  Geneva,  the 
emancipation  of  the  human  mind- effected  its  reforma- 
tion. These  changes  were  not  accomplished  without 
difficulties,  nor  without  wars.  But  if  they  troubled 
the  peace  of  the  city,  if  they  agitated  the  people's 
hearts,  if  they  divided  families,  if  they  occasioned  im- 
prisonments, if  they  caused  blood  to  be  shed  in  the 
streets,  they  tempered  characters,  they  awoke  minds, 
they  purified  morals,  they  formed  citizens  and  men, 
and  Geneva  issued  transformed  from  the  trials  through 
which  it  passed.  It  had  been  subject,  and  it  had 
grown  independent ;  it  had  been  ignorant,  and  it  had 
become  one  of  the  lights  of  Europe ;  it  had  been  a  little 
town,  and  it  was  now  the  Capital  of  a  great  Cause. 


CHAP.  xr.  ASYLUM  OF  SWITZERLAND.  181 

Its  science,  its  constitution,  its  greatness,  were  the 
work  of  France,  through  its  exiles  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  who,  unable  to  realise  their  ideas  in  their  own 
country,  had  carried  them  into  Switzerland,  whose 
hospitality  they  repaid  by  giving  them  a  new  worship, 
and  the  spiritual  government  of  many  peoples." l 

Geneva  having  thus  been  established  as  a  great 
Protestant  asylum  and  stronghold,  mainly  through 
the  labours  of  Frenchmen — Calvin,  Farel,  De  Beze, 
D'Aubigne',  and  many  more — the  fugitive  Protestants 
naturally  directed  their  steps  thither  in  the  first  place. 
In  1685,  hundreds  of  them  arrived  in  Geneva  daily ; 
but,  as  the  place  was  already  crowded,  and  the  accom- 
modation it  provided  was  but  limited,  the  greater 
number  of  the  new  arrivals  travelled  onward,  into  the 
interior  cantons.  Two  years  later,  the  refugees  were 
arriving  in  thousands,  mostly  from  Dauphiny  and 
Lyons;  the  greater  number  of  them  being  artizans. 
While  the  persecution  raged  in  Gex,  close  to  the  Swiss 
frontier,  it  seemed  as  if  the  whole  population  were 
flying.  Geneva  became  so  crowded  with  fugitives  that 
they  had  to  camp  out  at  night  in  the  public  squares. 

The  stream  of  emigrants  was  not  less  considerable 
at  Basle,  Zurich,  Berne,  and  Lausanne.  The  ambas- 
sador of  Louis  XIV.  wrote  to  his  royal  master :  "  The 
fugitives  continue  to  crowd  to  Zurich ;  I  met  a  number 
of  them  on  the  road  from  Basle  to  Soleure."  A  month 
later  he  informed  his  court  that  all  the  roads  were  full 
of  French  subjects  making  for  Berne  and  Zurich ;  and 
a  third  despatch  informed  Louis  that  carts  laden  with 
fugitives  were  daily  passing  through  the  streets  of 
Basle.  As  the  fugitives  were  mostly  destitute,  the 
Protestant  cantons  provided  a  fund  2  to  facilitate  the 


1  MIGNET  —  Memoires  IRgfo-  As  the  emigration  increased,  so 

riqiies,  Paris,  1854,  pp.  385-7.  did  their  bounty,  nntil,  in  1707, 

*  The  city  of  Geneva  was  su-  they  contributed  as  much  as 
perbly  bountiful.  In  1685,  the  234,672  florins  towards  the  ex- 
citizens  contributed  88,161  florins  penses  of  the  emigration.  "With- 
to  the  Protestant  refugee  fund.  in  a  period  of  forty  years,"  says 


182  LOUIS  XIV.  THREATENS  GENEVA.      CHAP.  xi. 

transit  of  those  whom  the  country  was  unable  to 
maintain.  Thus  15,591  persons  were  forwarded  to 
Germany  at  the  expense  of  the  League. 

Louis  XIV.  beheld  with  vexation  the  departure  of 
so  large  a  portion  of  his  subjects,  who  preferred  emi- 
gration and  destitution,  to  French  citizenship  and 
forcible  "conversion";  and  he  determined  to  interpose 
with  a  strong  hand,  so  as,  if  possible,  to  prevent  their 
further  flight.  Accordingly,  when  the  people  of  Gex 
went  flying  into  Geneva  in  crowds,  Louis  called  upon 
the  magistrates  to  expel  them  at  once.  The  republican 
city  was  comparatively  small  and  unarmed,  and  un- 
able to  resist  the  will  of  a  monarch  so  powerful  as 
Louis  the  Great  then  was.  The  magistrates,  there- 
fore, made  a  show  of  compliance  with  his  orders,  and 
directed  the  expulsion  of  the  fugitives  by  sound  of 
trumpet.  The  exiles  left  the  city  by  the  French  gate 
in  a  long  and  sad  procession ;  but  at  midnight  the 
citizens  went  forth  and  led  them  round  the  walls, 
bringing  them  into  Geneva  again  by  the  Swiss  gate, 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  city. 

On  this  proceeding  being  reported  to  Louis,  he 
vowed  vengeance  upon  Geneva  for  thus  trifling  with 
his  express  orders,  and  giving  refuge  to  his  contuma- 
cious subjects.  But  Berne  and  Zurich  having  hastened 
to  proffer  their  support  to  Geneva,  the  French  king's 
threats  remained  unexecuted.  The  refugees,  accord- 
ingly, remained  in  Switzerland,  and  settled  in  the 
various  Protestant  cantons,  where  they  founded  many 
important  branches  of  industry,  which  continue  to 
flourish  to  this  day. 

The  Protestant  refugees  received  a  like  cordial  wel- 

Graverol,  in  his  History  of  the  Berne  and  Vaud  during  the  same 

City  of  Nlsmes  (London  1703),  period  exceeded  4,000,000  florins. 

"  Geneva  furnished  official  con-  This  expenditure  was  altogether 

tributions  towards  the  assistance  exclusive  of  the  individual  con- 

of  the  refugees  of  the  Edict  of  tributions  and  private  hospitality 

Nantes,  amounting  to   not  less  of  the  Swiss  people,  which  were 

than    5,143.266    florins."      The  alike  liberal  and  bountiful, 
sums  expended  by  the  cantons  of 


CHAP.  xi.        FRENCH  REFUGEES  IN  GERMANY.  183 

coine  in  the  provinces  of  North  Germany,  where  they 
succeeded  in  establishing  many  important  and  highly 
nourishing  colonies.  The  province  of  Brandenburg, — 
the  nucleus  of  modern  Prussia, — had  been  devastated 
and  almost  ruined  by  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  Its 
trade  and  manufactures  were  destroyed,  and  a  large 
proportion  of  its  soil  lay  uncultivated.  The  Elector 
Frederick  William  was  desirous  of  replenishing  the 
population ;  and,  with  that  view,  he  sought  to  attract 
to  it  men  of  skill  and  industry  from  all  quarters.  The 
Protestants  whom  the  king  of  France  was  driving  out 
of  his  kingdom,  were  precisely  the  sort  of  men  whom 
the  Elector  desired  for  subjects ;  and  he  sent  repeated 
invitations  to  them  to  come  and  settle  in  Brandenburg, 
with  the  promise  of  liberty  of  worship,  protection, 
and  hospitality.  As  early  as  1661,  numerous  refugees 
embraced  his  offer,  and  settled  in  Berlin,  where  they 
prospered,  increased,  and  eventually  founded  a  flourish- 
ing French  Protestant  colony. 

The  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  furnished 
the  Elector  with  an  opportunity  for  renewing  his 
invitation  with  greater  effect  than  before.  The  pro- 
mulgation of  the  Edict  of  Paris  was  almost  imme- 
diately followed  by  the  promulgation  of  the  Edict  of 
Potsdam.  By  the  latter  edict,  men  of  the  Reformed 
religion,  driven  out  of  France  for  conscience'  sake,  were 
offered  a  free  and  safe  retreat  through  all  the  dominions 
of  the  Elector.  They  were  promised  rights,  franchises, 
and  other  advantages,  on  their  settlement  in  Branden- 
burg, "  in  order  to  relieve  them,  and  in  some  sort  to 
make  amends  for  the  calamities  with  which  Providence 
had  thought  fit  to  visit  so  considerable  a  part  of  His 
Church."  Facilities  were  provided  to  enable  the  emi- 
grants from  France  to  reach  the  Prussian  States.  Those 
from  the  southern  and  eastern  provinces  of  France  were 
directed  to  make  for  the  Rhine,  and  from  thence  to 
find  their  way  by  boats  to  Frankfort-on-the-Maine,  or 
to  Cleves,  where  the  Prussian  authorities  awaited  them 
with  subsidies,  and  the  means  for  travelling  eastward. 


184  REFUGEES  IN  BRANDENBURG.         CHAP.  xi. 

Free  shipping  was  also  provided  for  them  at  Amster- 
dam, from  whence  they  were  to  proceed  to  Hamburg, 
where  the  Prussian  resident  was  directed  to  assist  them 
in  reaching  their  intended  destination. 

These  measures  shortly  had  the  effect  of  attracting 
large  numbers  of  Huguenots  into  the  northern  pro- 
vinces of  Germany.  The  city  of  Frankfort  became 
crowded  with  exiles  arriving  from  the  eastern  provinces 
of  France.  The  fugitives  were  everywhere  made  wel- 
come, and  succoured  and  helped.  The  Elector  assisted 
them  with  money  out  of  his  own  private  means.  "  I 
will  sell  my  plate,"  he  said,  "  rather  than  they  should 
lack  assistance." 

On  arriving  in  Brandenburg,  the  emigrants  proceeded 
to  establish  their  colonies  throughout  the  electorate. 
Nearly  every  large  town  in  Prussia  had  its  French 
church,  and  one  or  more  French  pastors.  The  cele- 
brated Ancillon  was  pastor  of  the  church  at  Berlin ; 
and  many  of  the  Protestant  gentry  resorted  thither, 
attracted  by  his  reputation.  The  Huguenot  immi- 
gration into  Prussia  consisted  of  soldiers,  gentlemen, 
men  of  letters  and  artists,  traders,  manufacturers,  and 
labourers.1 

Numerous  other  bodies  of  the  refugees  settled  in  the 
smaller  states  of  Germany,  in  Denmark,  in  Sweden, 
and  even  in  Russia.  Others  crossed  the  ocean  and 
founded  settlements  abroad ;  in  Dutch  Surinam,  at  the 
Cape,  and  in  the  United  States  of  America.  The 
settlement  formed  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  was 
of  considerable  importance.  It  was  led  by  a  nephew 
of  Admiral  Duquesne,  and  included  members  of  some 
of  the  most  distinguished  families  of  France — Du 
Plessis  de  Mornay,  Roubaix  de  la  Fontaine,  De 
Chavannes,  De  Villiers,  Du  Prd,  Le  Roux,  Rous- 

1  The    personal    history    and  Messrs.  Ennan  and  Reclam.  en- 
particulars  of  the  refugees  who  titled  Memoires    pour  sercir  a 
settled  in  Prussia  are  given  at  THistoire  dcs  Refugtis  Francois 
full  length  in  a  work  published  dans  leg  Etats  du  Roi. 
at  Berlin,    in  9  TO!S.  8vo,    by 


CHAP.  xi.  REFUGEES  AT  THE  CAPE.  185 

seau,  D'Abling,  De  Cilliers,  Le  Sueur,  Maude',  aud 
many  more.  The  names  of  some  of  these  are  to  be 
found  among  the  roll  of  governors  of  the  colony 
under  the  Dutch.  The  refugees  mostly  settled  in 
the  Berg  Valley,  afterwards  known  as  French  Valley, 
and  now  as  De  Fransche  Hoek.  Weiss  says  their  de- 
scendants number  as  many  as  4000  persons ;  and  that 
they  are  still  Huguenots  in  religion,  and  proud  of  their 
descent.  The  old  families  treasure  their  original 
French  Bibles,  and  Clement  Marot's  hymn  books, 
brought  from  France  by  their  ancestors.  A  simple- 
minded  farmer  of  Stellenbosch,  near  Cape  Town,  now 
represents  the  ancient  ducal  house  of  Du  Plessis.  It  is 
said  that  when  Napoleon  I.,  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign, 
wished  to  rally  round  his  throne  all  the  old  French 
families  he  could  induce  to  acknowledge  his  preten- 
sions, he  offered  to  the  Du  Plessis  at  the  Cape  the 
restoral  of  his  family  title  and  estates ;  but  the  offer 
was  declined.  The  Cape  boer,  in  whose  mind  all 
recollection  of  his  family  traditions  had  died  away, 
preferred  his  quiet  vineyard  on  the  Berg  River  to  the 
brilliant  saloons  of  the  Tuileries.1  The  news  of  the  outer 
world  took  a  long  time  to  reach  the  secluded  descend- 
ants of  the  exiles.  Weiss  says  that  in  1828,  when  the 
evangelical  missionaries  told  them  that  religious  tolera- 
tion bad  existed  in  France  for  forty  years,  the  old  men 
shed  tears,  and  could  with  difficulty  believe  that  their 
brethren  could  be  so  favourably  treated  in  a  country 
from  which  their  ancestors  had  been  so  cruelly  expelled. 
The  emigration  to  the  United  States  of  America 
was  also  of  considerable  importance.  The  first  set- 
tlement of  Walloons  was  on  Staten  Island,  where  they 
built  a  little  church  near  Richmond,  afterwards  re- 
moved to  Wahle  Bocht,  or  the  "  Bay  of  Foreigners," 
since  corrupted  into  Wallabout.  The  Staten  Island 
refugees  are  still  represented  by  the  Disosways  and 
Orisons,  who  occupy  the  same  farms  which  their  an- 

1  HENRY  HALL,  in  Notet  and  Queries,  April  24  1869. 


186  REFUGEES  IN  AMERICA.  CHAP.  XL 

cestors  held  a  century  and  a  half  ago.  Other  settle- 
ments were  established  in  the  State  of  New  York, — at 
Albany,  under  their  patron  Van  Ransselaer,  and  at 
Manhattan,  where  they  were  joined  by  a  body  of  per- 
secuted Vaudois  from  the  south  of  France.  At  New 
Rochelle  also,  in  Westchester  County,  another  settle- 
ment was  formed,  which  long  continued  to  flourish. 
Among  the  descendants  of  these  emigrants,  were  the 
celebrated  families  of  Jay  and  De  Lancey,  well  known 
in  the  political  history  of  the  United  States.  In  Mas- 
sachussets  they  formed  several  settlements  ;  and  the 
celebrated  Faneuil  Hall,  at  Boston, — where  the  plea  for 
national  independence  was  so  early  heard, — was  the 
gift  of  the  son  of  a  refugee.  Worcester,  in  the  same 
state,  was  originally  a  Huguenot  colony. 

In  Maryland,  and  in  Virginia,  other  settlements  were 
formed;  and  from  the  Maurys  and  Fontaines  of  the 
latter  state,  some  of  the  best  blood  of  America  has 
come.  South  Carolina  was  even  styled  "  The  Home 
of  the  Huguenots," — nearly  a  thousand  fugitives  having 
reached  it  from  the  ports  of  Holland  alone.  There 
they  formed  three  colonies,  at  Charlestown,  at  Santee, 
and  Orange  Quarter  on  the  Cooper  River.  The  first 
pastor  of  the  Huguenot  church  at  Charlestown  was 
Elias  Prioleau,  a  descendant  of  Antoine  Prioli,  Dosre  of 
Venice  in  1618.  From  the  French  settlers  in  Carolina 
have  come  the  Ravenels,  Fravezants,  Peronneaus, 
Laurens,  Neuvilles,  Boudinots,  Manigaults,  Marions, 
Legares,  Hugers,  Gaillards,  Benorts,  Bayards,  Dupres, 
Chevaliers,  and  many  illustrious  Americans. 

But  Holland  and  England  constituted  the  principal 
asylums  of  the  exiled  Huguenots — Holland  in  the 
first  instance,  and  England  in  the  next ;  many  of  the 
refugees  passing  from  the  one  country  into  the  other, 
in  the  course  of  the  great  political  movements  which 
followed  close  upon  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes. 

Holland  had  long  been  a  refuge  for  the  persecuted 
Protestants  of  Europe.  During  the  religious  troubles 


CHAP.  xi.  REFUGEES  IN  HOLLAND.  187 

of  the  sixteenth  century,  exiles  fled  to  it  from  all 
quarters — from  Germany,  Flanders,  France,  and  Eng- 
land. During  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  thirty  thousand 
English  Protestants  fled  thither,  who  for  the  most  part 
returned  to  England  on  the  accession  of  Elizabeth. 
There  were  colonies  of  foreign  exiles  settled  in  nearly 
all  the  United  Provinces — of  Germans  in  Friesland 
and  Guelderland,  and  of  Walloons  in  Amsterdam, 
Haarlem,  Leyden,  Delft,  and  other  towns  in  North 
and  South  Holland.  And  now  these  refugees  were 
joined  by  a  still  greater  influx  of  persecuted  Protes- 
tants from  all  parts  of  France.  Bayle  designated 
Holland  "  the  great  ark  of  the  fugitives."  It  became 
the  chief  European  centre  of  free  thought,  free  re- 
ligion, and  free  industry.  A  healthy  spirit  of  liberty 
pervaded  it,  which  awakened  and  cultivated  the  best 
activities  and  energies  of  its  people. 

The  ablest  minds  of  France,  proscribed  by  Louis 
XIV.,  took  refuge  in  the  Low  Countries,  where  they 
taught  from  professors'  chairs,  preached  from  pulpits, 
and  spoke  to  all  Europe  through  the  medium  of.  the 
printing-press.  Descartes,  driven  from  France,  betook 
himself  to  Holland,  where  he  spent  twenty  years,  and 
published  his  principal  philosophical  works.  It  was 
the  retreat  of  Bayle,  Huyghens, l  Jurieu,  and  many 
more  of  the  best  men  of  France,  who  there  uttered 
and  printed  freely  what  they  could  do  nowhere  else. 
Among  the  most  stirring  books  which  emanated  from 
the  French  press  in  Holland,  were  those  of  Jurieu — 
formerly  professor  of  theology  and  Hebrew  in  the 
university  of  Sedan — who  now  sought  to  rouse  the 
indignation  of  Europe  against  the  tyranny  of  Louis 
XIV.  His  writings  were  not  permitted  to  circulate 
in  France,  where  all  works  hostile  to  the  King  and 
the  Jesuits  were  seized  and  burnt;  but  they  spread 


1  Though    Huyghens    was    a      duced    to    settle    there    by  the 
native  of  Holland,  he  had  long      invitation  of  Colbert, 
lived  jn  Paris,  having  been  ill- 


188  HOSPITALITY  OF  HOLLAXD.  CHAP.  xi. 


over  northern  Europe,  and  fanned  the  general  indigna- 
tion against  Louis  XIV.  into  a  still  fiercer  flame. 

Among  the  celebrated  French  Protestant  divines 
who  took  refuge  in  Holland  were  Claude,  Basnage, 
Martin,  Benoit,  and  Saurin.  Academies  were  expressly 
established  at  Leyden,  Rotterdam,  and  Utrecht,  in 
which  the  more  distinguished  of  the  banished  minis- 
ters were  appointed  to  professors'  chairs,  whilst  others 
were  distributed  throughout  the  principal  towns,  and 
placed  in  charge  of  Protestant  churches.  A  fund  was 
raised  by  voluntary  subscription  for  the  relief  of  the 
fugitives,  to  which  all  parties  cheerfully  and  liberally 
contributed, — not  only  Lutherans  and  Calvinists,  but 
Jews  and  even  Roman  Catholics. 

The  public  as  well  as  the  private  hospitality  of 
Holland  towards  the  fugitives  was  indeed  splendid. 
The  magistrates  of  Amsterdam  not  only  freely  con- 
ferred on  them  the  rights  of  citizenship,  with  liberty 
to  exercise  their  respective  callings,  but  granted  them 
exemption  from  local  taxes  for  three  years.  The 
States  of  Holland  and  the  province  of  Friesland 
granted  them  similar  privileges,  with  an  exemption 
from  all  imposts  for  a  period  of  twelve  years.  Every 
encouragement  was  given  to  the  immigration.  There 
was  not  a  town  but  was  ready  to  welcome  and  help 
the  destitute  foreigners.  The  people  received  them 
into  their  houses  as  guests;  and  when  the  private 
dwellings  were  rilled,  public  establishments  were 
opened  for  their  accommodation.  Yet  this  was  not 
enough.  The  Dutch,  hearing  of  the  sufferings  of  the 
poor  exiles  in  Switzerland,  sent  invitations  to  them 
to  come  into  Holland,  where  they  held  out  that  there 
was  room  enough  for  all. 

The  result  was  an  immense  increase  of  the  emigra- 
tion from  France  into  Holland,  of  men  of  all  ranks 
— artizans,  cloth-makers,  silk-weavers,  glass-makers, 
printers,  and  manufacturers.  They  were  distributed, 
on  their  arrival,  throughout  the  various  towns  and 
cities,  where  they  settled  down  to  pursue  their  re- 


CHAP.  XI.         WILLIAM  PRINCE  OF  ORANGE.  189 

spective  callings  ;  and  in  the  course  of  a  short  time  they 
more  than  repaid,  by  the  exercise  of  their  industry 
and  their  skill,  the  hospitality  of  their  benefactors. 

Another  important  feature  of  the  immigration  into 
Holland  remains  to  be  mentioned.  This  was  the 
influx  of  a  large  number  of  the  best  sailors  of  France, 
from  the  coasts  of  Guienne,  Saintonge,  La  Rochelle, 
Poitou,  and  Normandy,  together  with  a  still  larger 
number  of  veteran  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  French 
army.  This  accession  of  refugees  had  the  effect  of 
greatly  adding  to  the  strength  both  of  the  Dutch 
navy  and  army;  and,  as  we  shall  hereafter  find,  it 
exercised  an  important  influence  on  the  political 
history  both  of  Holland  and  England. 

Louis  XIV.  endeavoured  to  check  the  emigration 
of  his  subjects  into  Holland,  as  he  had  tried  to  stop 
their  flight  into  Switzerland  and  England,  but  in  vain. 
His  envoy  expostulated  against  their  reception  by  the 
States;  and  the  States  reiterated  their  proclamations 
of  privileges  to  the  refugees.  The  people  began  to  fear 
that  Louis  would  declare  war  against  Holland  ;  though 
the  Prince  of  Orange  did  not  shrink  from  an  encounter 
with  the  French  king. 

William,  Prince  of  Orange  and  Stadtholder  of 
Holland,  hated  France  as  his  forefathers  had  hated 
Spain.  Under  an  appearance  of  physical  weakness 
and  phlegmatic  indifference  he  concealed  an  ardent 
mind  and  an  indomitable  will.  He  was  cool  and 
taciturn,  yet  full  of  courage  and  even  daring.  He 
was  one  of  those  rare  men  who  never  knew  despair. 
When  the  great  French  army  of  100,000  men,  under 
Conde  and  Turenne,  swept  over  Flanders  in  1672, 
capturing  city  after  city,  and  approached  Amsterdam, 
the  inhabitants  became  filled  with  dread.  De  Witt 
proposed  submission ;  but  William,  then  only  twenty- 
two  years  of  age,  urged  resistance,  and  his  view  was 
supported  by  the  people.  He  declared  that  he  would 
die  in  the  last  ditch  rather  than  see  the  ruin  of  his 
country ;  and,  true  to  his  word,  he  ordered  the  dykes 


loo  WILLIAM  in.  AND  LOUIS  xiv.       CHAK  xi. 

to  be  cut  and  the  country  laid  under  water.  The 
independence  of  Holland  was  saved,  but  at  a  frightful 
cost ;  and  William  never  forgot,  perhaps  never  for- 
gave, the  injury  which  Louis  XIV.  had  thus  caused 
him  to  inflict  upon  Holland. 

William  had  another  and  more  personal  cause  of 
quarrel  with  Louis.  The  Prince  took  his  title  from 
the  small  but  independent  principality  of  Orange, 
situated  in  the  south-east  of  France,  a  little  to  the 
north  of  Avignon.  Though  Orange  was  a  fief  of  the 
Imperial  and  not  of  the  French  crown,  Louis,  disre- 
garding public  law,  overran  it,  dismantled  the  forti- 
fications of  the  principal  town,  and  subjected  the 
Protestants  of  the  district  to  the  same  cruelties  which 
he  had  practised  upon  his  own  subjects  of  the  same 
faith.  On  being  informed  of  these  outrages,  William 
declared  aloud  at  his  table  that  the  Most  Christian 
King  "  should  be  made  to  know  one  day  what  it  was 
to  offend  a  Prince  of  Orange."  Louis'  ambassador 
at  the  Hague  having  questioned  the  Prince  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  words,  the  latter  positively  refused 
either  to  retract  or  explain  them. 

It  may  not  be  unimportant  to  remark  that  William 
was,  like  the  other  princes  of  his  race,  an  enthusiastic 
Protestant.  The  history  of  his  family  was  identified 
with  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  new  views,  as  well 
as  with  the  emancipation  of  the  United  Provinces 
from  the  yoke  of  Spain  and  the  Inquisition.  His 
great-grandsire  had  fallen  a  victim  to  the  dagger  of 
Gerard,  the  agent  of  the  Jesuits,  and  expired  in  the 
arms  of  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  Admiral  Coligny. 
Thus,  the  best  Huguenot  blood  flowed  in  the  veins  of 
the  young  Prince  of  Orange ;  and  his  sympathies 
were  wholly  on  the  side  of  the  fugitives  who  sought 
the  asylum  of  Holland  against  the  cruelty  of  their 
persecutors. 

At  the  same  time,  William  was  doubly  related  to 
the  English  royal  family.  His  mother  was  the 
daughter  of  Charles  I.,  and  his  wife  was  the  daughter 


CHAP.  xi.  FREE  ASYLUM  IN  ENGLAND.  191 

of  James  II.,  reigning  king  of  England.  James 
being  then  without  male  issue,  the  Princess  of  Orange 
was  the  heiress-presumptive  to  the  British  throne. 
Though  William  may  have  been  ambitious,  he  was 
cautious  and  sagacious,  and  probably  had  not  the 
remotest  idea  of  anticipating  the  succession  of  his 
wife  by  the  overthrow  of  the  government  of  his 
father-in-law,  but  for  the  circumstances  about  to  be 
summarily  described,  and  which  issued  in  the  Revo- 
lution of  1688. 

Although  the  later  Stuart  kings,  who  were  Roman 
Catholics  at  heart,  hated  Protestantism,  they  never- 
theless felt  themselves  under  the  necessity  of  continu- 
ing the  policy  initiated  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  of  giving 
a  free  asylum  in  England  to  the  persecuted  Huguenots. 
In  1681,  Charles  II.  was  constrained  by  public  opinion 
to  sanction  a  bill  granting  large  privileges  to  such  of 
the  refugees  as  should  land  on  our  shores.  They  were 
to  have  free  letters-patent  granted  them ;  and  on  their 
arrival  at  any  of  the  out-ports,  their  baggage  and 
stock-in-trade — when  they  had  any — were  to  be 
landed  duty  free.  But  the  greater  number  arrived 
destitute.  For  example,  a  newspaper  of  the  day  thus 
announced  the  landing  of  a  body  of  the  refugees  at 
Plymouth  :  "  Plymouth,  6th  September,  1681.— An 
open  boat  arrived  here  yesterday,  in  which  were  forty 
or  fifty  Protestants  who  resided  outside  La  Rochelle. 
Four  other  boats  left  with  this,  one  of  which  is  said  to 
have  put  into  Dartmouth,  but  it  is  not  yet  known 
what  became  of  the  other  three." 

Large  numbers  of  the  fugitives  continued  to  land 
at  all  the  southern  ports  —  at  Dover,  at  Rye,  at 
Southampton,  at  Dartmouth,  and  at  Plymouth ;  and, 
wherever  they  landed,  they  received  a  cordial  wel- 
come. Many  were  pastors,  who  came  ashore  hunger- 
ing and  in  rags,  lamenting  the  flocks,  and  some  the 
wives  and  children,  which  they  had  left  behind  them 
in  France.  The  people  crowded  round  the  venerable 
sufferers  with  indignant  and  pitying  hearts.  They 


19f  LANDING  OP  HEFUGKES.  CHAP.  tt. 

received  them  into  their  dwellings,  and  hospitably 
relieved  their  wants.  Very  soon  the  flocks  followed 
in  the  wake  of  their  pastors.  These  landings  con- 
tinued for  many  years,  during  which  the  refugees 
crowded  all  the  southern  ports.  The  local  clergy 
led  and  directed  the  hospitality  of  the  inhabitants, 
usually  placing  the  parish  church  at  the  disposal  of 
the  exiles  during  a  part  of  each  Sunday,  until  they 
could  be  provided  with  accommodation  of  their  own. l 

The  sight  of  so  much  distress  borne  so  patiently 
and  uncomplainingly,  deeply  stirred  the  heart  of  the 
nation ;  and  every  effort  was  made  to  succour  and 
help  the  poor  refugees  for  conscience'  sake.  Public 
collections  were  made  in  the  churches.  A  fund  was 
raised  for  the  relief  of  the  most  necessitous,  and  for 
enabling  the  foreigners  to  proceed  inland  to  places 
where  they  could  pursue  their  industry.  Many 
were  thus  forwarded  from  the  sea-coast  to  London, 
Canterbury,  Norwich,  and  other  places,  where  they 
eventually  formed  prosperous  settlements,  and  laid 
the  foundations  of  important  branches  of  industry. 

James  II.  succeeded  to  the  British  throne  at  the 
death  of  his  brother  Charles  II.  on  the  6th  of  January, 
1685, — the  year  in  which  the  Edict  of  Nantes  was  re- 

1  At  Rye,   the  refugees  were  innocent  people,   such  as  serve 

granted   the  use  of   the   parish  God  constantly  and  uniformly, 

church  from  eight  to  ten  in  the  according    to    the    usage     and 

morning,  and  from  twelve  to  two  custom   of  the  Church   of  Eng- 

in  the  afternoon,  the  appropria-  land.     And  further,  that  we  be- 

tion  being  duly  confirmed  by  the  lieve  them  to  be  falsely  aspersed 

Council  of  State.   Reports  having  for  Papists  and  disaffected  per- 

been  spread  abroad,  that  the  fugi-  sons,  no    such  thing  appearing 

tives  were  persons  of  bad  char-  unto  us  by  the  conversations  of 

acter,  disaffected,  and  Papists  in  any  of  them.     This  we  do  freely 

disguise,  the  vicar  and  principal  and    truly    certifie,  for  and    of 

inhabitants  of  Rye  drew  up  and  them.     In  witness  whereof,  we 

published    the    following    testi-  have    hereunto   set    our  hands, 

monial  in  their  behalf :—  the   18th   day    of    April,    1682. 

"  These  are  to  certifie  to  all  Wm.     Williams,     vicar ;     Thos. 
whom  it  may  concern,  that  the  Tournay,"    etc.   etc. — State  Pa- 
French     Protestants     that    are  pen,   Domestic  Calendar,   1682, 
settled  inhabitants  of  this  town  No.  65. 
of  Rye,  are  a  sober,  harmless, 


CHAP.  XI.  JAMES  TL    AND  HIS  FAITH.  193 

voked.  Charles  and  James  were  both  Roman  Catho- 
lics,— Charles  when  he  was  not  a  scoffer,  James  always. 
The  latter  had  long  been  a  friend  of  the  Jesuits,  in 
disguise ;  but  no  sooner  did  he  become  king,  than  he 
threw  off  the  mask,  and  exhibited  himself  in  his  true 
character.  James  was  not  a  man  to  gather  wisdom 
from  experience.  During  the  exile  of  his  family,  he 
had  leamt  nothing  and  forgotten  nothing;  and  it 
shortly  became  clear  to  the  English  nation  that  he 
was  bent  on  pursuing  almost  the  identical  course 
which  had  cost  his  father  his  crown  and  his  head. 

If  there  was  one  feeling  that  characterised  the 
English  people  about  this  time,  more  than  another,  it 
was  their  aversion  to  Popery, — not  merely  Popery  as  a 
religion,  but  as  a  policy.  It  was  felt  to  be  contrary  to 
the  whole  spirit,  character,  and  tendency  of  the  nation. 
Popery  had  so  repeatedly  exhibited  itself  as  a  perse- 
cuting policy,  that  not  only  the  religious  but  the  non- 
religious, — not  only  the  intelligent  few,  but  the  illiterate 
many, — regarded  it  with  feelings  of  deep  aversion. 
Great,  therefore,  was  the  public  indignation  when  it 
became  known  that  one  of  the  first  acts  of  James,  on 
his  accession  to  the  throne,  was  to  order  the  public 
celebration  of  the  Mass  at  Westminster,  after  an  inter- 
val of  more  than  a  century.  The  King  dismissed  from 
about  his  person  clergymen  of  the  English  Church, 
and  introduced  well-known  Jesuits  in  their  stead.  He 
degraded  several  of  the  bishops,  though  he  did  not  yet 
venture  openly  to  persecute  them.  But  he  showed  his 
temper  and  his  tendency,  by  actively  reviving  the 
persecutions  of  the  Scotch  Presbyterians,  whom  he 
pursued  with  a  cruelty  only  equalled  by  Louis  XIV. 
in  his  dealings  with  the  Huguenots.1 

James  II.  was  but  the  too  ready  learner  of  the  lessons 

1  In  Scotland,  whoever  was  de-  says  that  the  Scotch  Act  of  Par- 
tected  preaching  in  a  conventicle  liament  (James  VII.,  8th  May, 
or  attending  one.  was  punishable  1685)  enacting  these  penalties 
nith  death  and  the  confiscation  was  passed  at  the  special  instance 
of  all  his  property.  Macaulay  of  the  King. 

13 


194  JAMES  II.  A  PERSECUTOR.  CHAP.  xi. 

of  despotism  taught  him  by  Louis  XIV.,  whose  pen- 
sioner he  was,  and  whose  ultimate  victim  he  proved  to 
be.  The  two  men  indeed  resembled  each  other  in  many 
respects,  and  their  actions  ran  in  almost  parallel  lines ; 
though  those  who  concede  to  Louis  the  title  of  "  Great," 
will  probably  object  that  the  Engfish  king  was  merely 
the  ape  of  the  French  one.     They  were  both  dissolute, 
and  both  bigots,  vibrating  alternately  between  their 
mistresses  and  their  confessors.     What  La  Yalliere, 
Montespan,  and  Maintenon  were  to  Louis  XIV.,  Arabella 
Churchill  and  Catherine  Sedley  were  to  James  II.     The 
principal  difference  between  them  in  this  respect  was, 
that  Louis  sinned  with  comely  mistresses,  and  James 
with  ugly  ones.     Louis  sought  absolution  from  Pere 
la  Chaise,  and  James  from  Father  Petre;  and  when 
penance  had  to  be  done,  both  laid  it  alike  upon  their 
Protestant  subjects, — Louis  increasing  the  pressure  of 
persecution  on  the  Huguenots,  and  James  upon  the 
Puritans  and  Covenanters.     Both  employed  military 
missionaries  in  carrying  out  their  designs  of  conver- 
sion;   the  agents  of  Louis  being  the  "dragons"   of 
Noailles,  those  of  James  being  the  dragoons  of  Claver- 
house.  Both  were  despisers  of  constitutional  power,  and 
sought  to  centre  the  government  in  themselves.     But 
while   Louis  succeeded   in   crushing  the   Huguenots, 
James  ignominiously  failed  in  crushing  the  Puritans. 
Louis,  it  is  true,  brought  France  to  the  verge  of  ruin, 
and  paved  the  way  for  the  French  Revolution  of  1792; 
whilst,  happily  for  England,  the  designs   of  James 
were  summarily  thwarted  by  the  English  Revolution  of 
1688,  and  the  ruin  of  his  kingdom  was  thus  averted. 

The  designs  of  James  upon  the  consciences  of  his 
people,  were  not  long  in  developing  themselves.  The 
persecution  of  the  Scotch  Covenanters  was  carried  on 
with  increased  virulence,  until  resistance  almost  dis- 
appeared ;  and  then  he  turned  his  attention  to  the 
English  Puritans.  Baxter,  Howe,  Bunyan,  and  hun- 
dreds of  nonconformist  ministers,  were  thrown  into 
gaol ;  but  there  were  as  yet  no  hangings  nor  shootings 


CH  A  P.  xi.        JAMES  II.  AND  THE  HUG  UENOTS.  195 

of  them,  as  there  had  been  in  Scotland.  To  strengthen 
his  power,  and  enable  him  to  adopt  more  decisive 
measures,  James  next  took  steps  to  augment  the  stand- 
ing army, — a  measure  which  exposed  him  to  increased 
public  odium.  Though  contrary  to  law,  he  in  many 
cases  dismissed  the  Protestant  officers  of  regiments, 
and  appointed  Roman  Catholics  in  their  stead.  To 
render  their  appointments  legal,  he  proposed  to  repeal 
the  Test  Act,  as  well  as  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act;  but 
his  minister  Halifax  refusing  to  concur  in  this  course, 
he  was  dismissed,  and  Parliament  was  adjourned. 
Immediately  before  its  re-assembling,  the  news  arrived 
from  France  of  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
and  of  the  horrible  cruelties  perpetrated  on  the  Hugue- 
nots. The  intelligence  caused  a  thrill  of  indignation 
to  run  throughout  England ;  and  very  shortly,  crowds 
of  the  destitute  fugitives  landed  on  the  southern  coast, 
spreading  abroad  the  tale  of  horror. 

Shortly  after,  there  came  from  France  the  report  of 
a  speech  addressed  by  the  Bishop  of  Valance  to  Louis 
XIV.  in  the  name  of  the  French  clergy.  "The  pious 
sovereign  of  England,"  said  the  orator,  "  looked  to  the 
Most  Christian  King,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Church, 
for  support  against  a  heretical  nation."  The  natural 
inference  drawn  was,  that  what  Louis  had  done  in 
France,  James  was  about  to  imitate  in  England  by 
means  of  his  new  standing  army,  commanded  by 
Roman  Catholic  officers. 

To  allay  the  general  alarm  which  began  to  prevail, 
James  pretended  to  disapprove  of  the  cruelties  to 
which  the  Huguenots  had  been  subjected;  and,  in 
deference  to  public  opinion,  he  granted  some  relief  to 
the  exiles  from  his  privy  purse,  inviting  his  subjects 
to  imitate  his  liberality,  by  making  a  public  collection 
for  them  in  the  churches  throughout  the  kingdom. 
His  acts,  however,  belied  his  words.  At  the  instiga- 
tion of  Barillon,  he  had  the  book  published  in  Holland 
by  the  banished  Haguenot  pastor  Claude,  describing 
the  sufferings  of  his  brethren,  burnt  by  the  hangman 


196         REACTIONARY  COURSE  OF  JAMES  II.     CHAP.  xi. 

before  the  Royal  Exchange ;  and  when  the  public 
collection  was  made  in  the  churches,  and  £40,000  was 
paid  into  the  chamber  of  London,  James  gave  orders 
that  none  should  receive  a  farthing  of  relief  unless 
they  first  took  the  sacrament  according  to  the  Angli- 
can ritual.  Many  of  the  exiles  who  came  for  help, 
when  they  heard  of  the  terms  on  which  alone  it  was 
to  be  granted,  went  away  unrelieved,  with  sad  and 
sorrowful  hearts. 

James  proceeded  steadily  in  his  reactionary  course. 
He  ordered  warrants  to  be  drawn  in  defiance  of  the 
law,  authorising  priests  of  the  Church  of  Rome  to  hold 
benefices  in  the  Church  of  England.  A  Jesuit  was 
quartered  as  chaplain  in  University  College,  Oxford ; 
and  the  Roman  Catholic  rites  were  there  publicly  cele- 
brated. The  deanery  of  Christ  Church  was  conferred 
upon  a  minister  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  mass  was 
duly  celebrated  there.  Roman  Catholic  chapels  and 
convents  rose  all  over  the  country;  and  Franciscan, 
Carmelite,  and  Benedictine  monks,  appeared  openly,  in 
their  cowls,  beads,  and  conventual  gai'bs.  The  King 
made  little  secret  of  his  intention  to  destroy  the 
Protestant  Church ;  and  he  lost  no  time  in  carrying 
out  his  measures,  even  in  the  face  of  popular  tumult 
and  occasional  rioting, — placing  his  reliance  mainly 
upon  his  standing  army,  which  was  encamped  on 
Hounslow  Heath.  At  the  same  time,  Tyrconnel  was 
sent  over  to  Ireland  to  root  out  the  Protestant  colonies 
there.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  cast  adrift  about 
4000  Protestant  officers  and  soldiers,  supplanting  them 
with  as  many  staunch  Papists.  Those  in  his  confidence 
boasted  that  within  a  few  months  there  would  not  be  a 
man  of  English  race  left  in  the  Irish  army.  The  Irish 
Protestants,  indeed,  began  to  fear  another  massacre; 
and  a  number  of  families,  principally  gentlemen, 
artificers,  and  tradesmen,  left  Dublin  for  England  in 
the  course  of  a  few  days. 

At  length  resistance  began  to  show  itself.  The  Par- 
liaments both  of  England  and  Scotland  pronounced 


CHAP.  xi.  PRINCE  OF  ORANGE'S  ARMY.  197 

against  the  King's  policy,  and  he  was  unable  to  carry 
his  measures  by  constitutional  methods.  He  accord- 
ingly resolved,  like  Louis  XIV.,  to  rule  by  the  strong 
hand,  and  to  govern  by  royal  edict.  Such  was  the 
state  of  affairs,  rapidly  verging  on  anarchy  and  civil 
war,  when  the  English  nation,  sick  of  the  rule  of 
James  II.,  after  a  reign  of  only  three  years,  and 
eager  for  relief,  looked  abroad  for  succour ;  and,  with 
almost  general  consent,  they  fixed  their  eyes  upon 
William,  Prince  of  Orange,  as  the  one  man  capable  of 
helping  them  in  their  time  of  need. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  had  meanwhile  been  diligently 
occupied,  amongst  other  things,  with  the  reorganisation 
of  his  army  ;  and  the  influx  of  veteran  officers  and 
soldiers  of  the  French  king,  banished  from  France 
because  of  their  religion,  furnished  him  with  every 
facility  for  the  purpose.  He  proposed  to  the  States 
of  Holland  that  they  should  raise  two  new  regiments, 
to  be  composed  entirely  of  Huguenots ;  but  the  States 
were  at  first  unwilling  to  make  such  an  addition  to 
their  army.  They  feared  the  warlike  designs  of  their 
young  prince,  and  were  mainly  intent  upon  reducing 
the  heavy  imposts  that  weighed  upon  the  country,  occa- 
sioned by  the  recent  invasion  of  Louis  XIV.,  from  the 
effects  of  which  they  were  still  suffering. 

William,  fearing  lest  the  veterans  whom  he  so 
anxiously  desired  to  retain  in  his  service  should  de- 
part into  other  lands,  then  publicly  proclaimed  that  he 
would  himself  pay  the  expenses  of  all  the  Military 
Refugees,  rather  than  that  they  should  leave  Holland. 
On  this  the  States  hesitated  no  longer,  but  agreed  to 
pension  the  French  officers  until  they  could  be  incor- 
porated in  the  Dutch  army;  and  180,000  florins  a  year 
were  voted  for  the  purpose.  Companies  of  French 
cadets  were  also  formed  and  maintained  at  the  expense 
of  the  state.  The  Huguenot  officers  and  men  were 
drafted  as  rapidly  as  possible  into  the  Dutch  army ; 
and  before  long  William  saw  his  ranks  swelled  by 
a  formidable  body  of  veteran  troops,  together  with  a 


198  WILLIAM'S  ARMY  OF  VETERANS.       CHAP.  xi. 

large  number  of  officers  of  fusiliers  from  Strasburg, 
Metz,  and  Verdun,  Whole  companies  of  Huguenot 
troops  were  drafted  into  each  regiment  under  their 
own  officers,  while  the  principal  fortresses  at  Breda, 
Maestricht,  Bergen-op-Zoom,  Bois-le-Duc,  Zutphen, 
Nimuegen,  Arnheim,  and  Utrecht,  were  used  as  so 
many  depots  for  such  officers  and  soldiers  as  continued 
to  take  refuge  in  Holland. 

William's  plans  were  so  carefully  prepared,  and  he 
conducted  his  proceedings  with  so  much  secrecy,  that 
both  James  II.  and  Louis  XIV.  were  kept  entirely  in 
the  dark  as  to  his  plans  and  intentions.  At  length  the 
Prince  was  ready  to  embark  his  army,  and  England 
was  ready  to  receive  him.  It  forms  no  part  of  our 
purpose  to  relate  the  circumstances  connected  with  the 
embarkation  of  William,  his  landing  in  England,  and 
the  revolution  which  followed,  further  than  to  illus- 
trate the  part  which  the  banished  Huguenots  played 
in  that  great  political  transaction.  The  narrative  will 
be  found  in  the  pages  of  Macaulay,  though  that  his- 
torian passes  over  with  too  slight  notice  the  services  of 
the  Huguenots. 

Michelet  observes  with  justice :  —  "  The  army  of 
William  was  strong  precisely  in  that  Calvinistic  ele- 
ment which  James  repudiated  in  England — I  mean  in 
our  Huguenot  soldiers,  the  brothers  of  the  Puritans.  I 
am  astonished  that  Macaulay  has  thought  fit  to  leave 
this  circumstance  in  the  background.  I  cannot  believe 
that  great  England,  with  all  her  glories  and  her  inherit- 
ance of  liberty,  is  unwilling  nobly  to  avow  the  part 
which  we  Frenchmen  had  in  her  deliverance.  In  the 
Homeric  enumeration  which  the  historian  gives  of  the 
followers  of  William,  he  reckons  up  English,  Germans, 
Dutch,  Swedes,  Swiss,  with  the  picturesque  detail  of 
their  arms,  uniforms,  and  all,  down  even  to  the  two 
hundred  negroes  with  their  black  faces  set  off  by  em- 
broidered turbans  and  white  feathers,  who  followed  the 
body  of  English  gentry  led  by  the  Earl  of  Macclesfield. 
But  he  did  not  see  our  Frenchmen.  Apparently  the 


CHAP.  XI.  THE  HUGUENOT  OFFICERS.  199 


proscribed  Huguenot  soldiers  who  followed  William 
did  not  do  honour  to  the  Prince  by  their  clothes ! 
Doubtless  many  of  them  wore  the  dress  in  which  they 
had  fled  from  France — and  it  had  become  dusty,  worn, 
and  tattered."1 

There  is  indeed  little  reason  to  doubt  that  the 
flower  of  the  little  army  with  which  William  landed  at 
Torbay,  on  the  15th  of  November,  1688,  consisted  of 
Huguenot  soldiers,  trained  under  Schomberg,  Turenne, 
and  Conde.  The  expedition  included  three  entire 
regiments  of  French  infantry,  numbering  2250  men, 
and  a  complete  squadron  of  French  cavalry.  These 
were  nearly  all  veteran  troops,  whose  valour  had  been 
proved  on  many  a  hard-fought  field.  Many  of  them 
were  gentlemen  born,  who,  unable  to  obtain  commis- 
sions as  officers,  were  content  to  serve  in  the  ranks. 
The  number  of  French  officers  was  very  large  in 
proportion  to  the  whole  force, — 736,  besides  those  in 
command  of  the  French  regiments,  being  distributed 
through  all  the  battalions.  It  is,  moreover,  worthy  of 
note  that  William's  ablest  and  most  trusted  officers 
were  Huguenots.  Schomberg,  the  refugee  marshal  of 
France,  was  next  in  command  to  the  Prince  himself; 
and  such  was  the  confidence  which  that  skilful  general 
inspired,  that  the  Princess  of  Orange  gave  him  secret 
instructions  to  assert  her  rights,  and  carry  out  the 
enterprise,  should  her  husband  fall.  William's  three 
aides-de-camp,  De  1'Etang,  De  la  Meloniere,  and  the 
Marquis  d'Arzilliers,  were  French  officers,  as  were  also 
the  chiefs  of  the  engineers  and  the  artillery,  Gambon 
and  Goulon,  the  latter  being  one  of  Vauban's  most  dis- 
tinguished pupils.  Fifty -four  French  gentlemen  served 
in  William's  regiment  of  horse-guards,  and  thirty-four 
in  his  body-guard.  Among  the  officers  of  the  army  of 
liberation,  distinguished  alike  by  their  birth  and  their 
military  skill,  were  the  cavalry  officers  Didier  de 
Boncourt  and  Chalant  de  Remeugnac,  colonels ;  Danser- 

1  MICHELET — Louis  -TIF.  et  la  Revocation,  pp.  418-19. 


200  MARSHAL  SCHOMBERG.  CHAP,  xi 


ville,  lieutenant-colonel ;  and  Petit  and  Picard,  majors; 
whilst  others  of  equal  birth  and  distinction  as  soldiers 
served  in  the  infantry.1 

Marshal  Schomberg  was  descended  from  the  Dukes 
ofCleves,  whose  arms  he  bore.  Several  of  his  ancestors 
had  held  high  rank  in  the  French  service.  One  of 
them  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Ivry  on  the  side  of 
Henry  IV.,  and  another  commanded  under  Richelieu 
at  the  siege  of  Rochelle.  The  marshal,  whose  mother 
was  an  Englishwoman  of  the  noble  house  of  Dudley, 
began  his  career  in  the  Swedish  army  in  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  after  which  he  entered  the  service  of  the 
Netherlands,  and  subsequently  that  of  France.  There 
he  led  an  active  and  distinguished  career,  and  rose  by 
successive  steps  to  the  rank  of  marshal.  The  great 
Conde  had  the  highest  opinion  of  his  military  capacity, 
and  compared  him  to  Turenne.  He  commanded  armies 
successfully  in  Flanders,  Portugal,  and  Holland ;  but 
on  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict,  being  unable  to  con- 
form to  popery,  he  felt  compelled  to  resign  his  military 
honours  and  emoluments,  and  leave  France  for  ever. 

Schomberg  first  went  to  Portugal,  which  was  as- 
signed to  him  as  his  place  of  exile ;  but  he  shortly 
after  left  that  country  to  take  service,  with  numerous 
other  French  officers,  under  Frederick  William  of 
Brandenburg.  His  stay  at  Berlin  was,  however,  of 
short  duration ;  for,  when  he  heard  of  the  intentions  of 
William  of  Orange  with  respect  to  England,  he  at  once 
determined  to  join  him.  Offers  of  the  most  tempting 
kind  were  held  out  by  Frederick  William  to  induce  him 
to  remain  in  Prussia.  The  Elector  proposed  to  appoint 
him  governor-general,  minister  of  state,  and  member 

1  Among  the  captains  of  horse  veur,  Rapin  (afterwards  the  his- 

were  Massole  de  Montant,  Petit,  torian),     De     Cosne-Chavernay, 

De  Maricourt,  De  Boncourt,  De  Danserville,  Massole  de  Montant,' 

Fabrice,  De  Lauray,  Baron  d'En-  Jacques  de  Baune,  Baron  de  Ave- 

tragues,  Le  Coq  de  St.  Leger,  De  jan,  Nolibois,  Belcastel,  Jaucourt 

Saumaise,  De  Lacroix,  De  Dam-  de   Villarnoue,   Lislemaretz,   De 

pierre;  while  among  the  captains  Montazier,  and  the  three  brothers 

of  infantry  we  rind  De  Saint  Sau-  De  Batz. 


CHAP.  xi.   WILLIA M'S  HUG  UENOT  POLL 0  WERS.  201 

of  the  privy  council ;  but  in  vain.  Schomberg  felt 
that  the  interests  of  Protestantism,  of  which  William 
of  Orange  was  the  recognised  leader,  required  him  to 
forego  his  own  personal  interests  ;  and  though  nearly 
seventy  years  of  age,  he  quitted  the  service  of  Prussia 
to  enter  that  of  Holland.  He  was  accompanied  by  a 
large  number  of  veteran  Huguenot  officers,  full  of 
bitter  resentment  against  the  monarch  who  had  driven 
them  forth  from  France,  and  who  burned  to  meet  their 
persecutors  in  the  field  and  avenge  themselves  of  the 
cruel  wrongs  which  they  had  suffered  at  their  hands. 

What  the  embittered  feelings  of  the  French  Protes- 
tant gentry  were,  and  what  was  the  nature  of  the 
injuries  they  had  suffered  because  of  their  religion, 
may,  however,  best  be  explained  by  the  following  nar- 
rative of  the  sufferings  and  adventures  of  a  Norman 
gentleman  who  succeeded  in  making  his  escape  fyom 
France, — who  joined  the  liberating  army  of  William 
of  Orange  as  captain  of  dragoons,  took  part  in  the  ex- 
pedition to  England,  served  with  the  English  army  in 
the  Irish  campaigns,  and  afterwards  settled  at  Port- 
arlington  in  Ireland,  where  he  died  in  1709. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ADVENTURES  OF  DUMONT   DE   BOSTAQUET — IRISH   CAM- 
PAIGN OF  1689-90. 

ISAAC  DUMONT  DE  BOSTAQUET  was  a  Protestant  gen- 
tleman possessing  considerable  landed  property  near 
Yerville  in  Normandy,  about  eight  leagues  from 
Dieppe.  He  had  been  well  educated  in  his  youth, 
and  served  with  distinction  in  the  French  army  as 
an  officer  of  Norman  horse.  After  leaving  the  army, 
he  married,  and  settled  on  his  paternal  estates,  where 
he  lived  the  life  of  a  retired  country  gentleman.1 

It  was  about  the  year  1661,  that  the  first  muttering 
of  the  coming  storm  reached  De  Bostaquet  in  his 
ancient  chateau  of  La  Fontelaye.  The  Roman  Catho- 
lics, supported  by  the  King,  had  begun  to  pull  down 
Protestant  churches  in  many  districts ;  and  now  it 
began  to  be  rumoured  abroad  that  several  in  Nor- 
mandy were  to  be  demolished ;  amongst  others  the 
church  of  Lindeboeuf,  in  which  De  Bostaquet  and  his 
family  worshipped.  He  at  once  set  out  for  Paris,  to 
endeavour,  if  possible,  to  prevent  the  outrage.  He  saw 
his  old  commander  Turenne,  and  had  interviews  with 
the  King's  ministers,  but  without  any  satisfactory 
result ;  for  on  his  return  to  Normandy  he  found  that 
the  temple  at  Lindeboeuf  had  been  demolished  during 
his  absence. 


1  The  account    given    in  this  Waddington,   and  published  at 

chapter  is  mainly  drawn    from  Paris  in  1864.       The    MS.  was 

the  Memoires  Inedits  de  Dumont  in   the    possession  of   Dr.   Vig- 

de  Bostaquet,  Gcntilhomme,  Nor-  noles,  Dean  of  Ossory,  a  lineal 

mantl,  edited  by  MM.  Read  and  descendant  of  De  Bostaouet. 


CHAP.  xil.  DUMONT  DE  BOSTAQUET.  203 


When  De  Bostaquet  complained  to  the  local  au- 
thorities of  the  outrage,  he  was  told  that  the  King 
was  resolved  to  render  the  exercise  of  the  Protestant 
worship  so  difficult  that  it  would  be  necessary  for 
all  Protestants  throughout  France  to  conform  them- 
selves to  the  King's  religion.  This,  however,  De 
Bostaquet  was  not  prepared  to  do ;  and  a  temporary 
place  of  worship  was  fitted  up  in  the  chateau  at  La 
Fontelaye,  where  the  scattered  flock  of  Lindeboeuf  re- 
assembled, and  the  seigneur  himself  on  an  emergency 
preached,  baptized,  and  performed  the  other  offices 
of  religion.  And  thus  he  led  an  active  and  useful  life 
in  the  neighbourhood  for  many  years. 

But  the  persecution  of  the  Protestants  became  in- 
creasingly hard  to  bear.  More  of  their  churches  were 
pulled  down,  and  their  worship  was  becoming  all  but 
proscribed.  De  Bostaquet  began  to  meditate  emigra- 
tion into  Holland;  but  he  was  bound  to  France  by 
many  ties — of  family  as  well  as  property.  By  his 
first  wife  he  had  a  family  of  six  daughters  and  one 
son.  Shortly  after  her  death  he  married  a  second 
time,  and  a  second  family  of  six  children  was  added  to 
the  first.  But  his  second  wife  also  died,  leaving  him 
with  a  large  family  to  rear  and  educate ;  and,  as  in- 
telligent female  help  was  essential  for  this  purpose,  he 
was  thus  induced  to  marry  a  third  time ;  and  a  third 
family,  of  two  sons  and  three  daughters,  was  added  to 
the  original  number. 

At  last  the  Edict  was  revoked,  and  the  dragoons 
were  let  loose  on  the  provinces  to  compel  the  conver- 
sion of  the  Protestants.  A  body  of  cuirassiers  was 
sent  into  Normandy,  which  had  hitherto  been  exempt 
from  their  visitations.  On  the  intelligence  of  their  ad- 
vance reaching  De  Bostaquet,  he  summoned  a  meeting 
of  the  neighbouring  Protestant  gentry  at  his  house  at 
La  Fontelaye,  to  consider  what  was  best  to  be  done. 
He  then  declared  to  them  his  intention  of  leaving 
France  should  the  King  persist  in  his  tyrannical 
course.  Although  all  who  were  present  praised  his 


204     QUARTERING  OF  TROOPS  ON  FAMILIES.    CHAP.  xn. 

resolution,  none  offered  to  accompany  him, — not  even 
his  eldest  son,  who  had  been  married  only  a  few 
months  before.  When  the  ladies  of  the  household 
were  apprised  of  the  resolution  he  had  expressed, 
they  implored  him,  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  not  to 
leave  them ;  if  he  did,  they  felt  themselves  lost.  His 
wife,  on  the  eve  of  another  confinement,  joined  her 
entreaties  to  those  of  his  children  ;  and  he  felt  that 
under  such  circumstances,  the  idea  of  flight  must  be 
given  up. 

The  intelligence  shortly  reached  La  Fontelaye  that 
the  cuirassiers  had  entered  Rouen  sword  in  hand, 
under  the  Marquis  de  Beaupre'  Choiseul;  that  the 
quartering  of  the  troops  on  the  inhabitants  was  pro- 
ducing "  conversions  "  by  wholesale ;  and  that  crowds 
were  running  to  M.  de  Marillac,  the  Intendant,  to  sign 
their  abjuration,  and  thus  get  rid  of  the  soldiers.  De 
Bostaquet  then  resolved  to  go  over  to  Rouen  himself, 
and  see  with  his  own  eyes  what  was  going  on  there. 
He  was  greatly  shocked  both  by  what  he  saw  and 
by  what  he  heard.  Sorrow  sat  on  all  countenances 
except  those  of  the  dragoons,  who  paraded  the  streets 
with  a  truculent  air.  There  was  the  constant  moving 
of  them  from  house  to  house.  Wherever  they  were 
quartered,  they  swore,  drank,  and  hectored,  until  the 
inmates  signed  their  abjuration,  when  they  were  with- 
drawn for  the  purpose  of  being  quartered  elsewhere. 
De  Bostaquet  was  ineffably  pained  to  find  that  these 
measures  were  generally  successful ;  that  all  classes 
were  making  haste  to  conform ;  and  that  even  his 
brother-in-law,  M.  de  Lamberville,  who  had  been  so 
staunch  but  a  few  days  before,  had  been  carried 
along  by  the  stream  and  abjured. 

De  Bostaquet  hastened  from  the  place,  and  returned 
to  La  Fontelaye  sad  at  heart.  The  intelligence  which 
he  brought  with  him,  of  the  dragonnades  at  Rouen,  occa- 
sioned deep  concern  in  the  minds  of  his  household ; 
but  only  one  feeling  pervaded  them, — resignation  and 
steadfastness.  De  Bostaquet  took  refuge  in  the  hope 


CHAP.  xii.  TROOPS  QUARTERED  AT  LA  FONTELAYE.     205 

that,  belonging  as  he  did  to  the  noblesse,  he  would  be 
spared  the  quartering  of  troops  in  his  family.  But  he 
was  mistaken.  At  Rouen,  the  commandant  quartered 
thirty  horsemen  upon  Sieur  Chauvel,  until  he  and  his 
lady,  to  get  rid  of  them,  signed  their  abjuration ;  and 
an  intimation  was  shortly  after  made  to  De  Bostaquet, 
that  unless  he  and  his  family  abjured,  a  detachment 
of  twenty-five  dragoons  would  be  quartered  in  his 
chateau.  Fearing  the  effects  on  his  wife,  in  her  then 
delicate  state  of  health,  as  well  as  desirous  of  saving 
his  children  from  the  horrors  of  such  a  visitation,  he 
at  once  proceeded  to  Dieppe  with  his  eldest  son,  and 
promised  to  sign  his  abjuration  after  placing  himself 
for  a  time  under  the  instruction  of  the  reverend 
penitentiary  of  Notre  Dame  de  Rouen. 

No  sooner  had  he  put  his  name  to  the  paper,  than 
he  felt  degraded  in  his  own  eyes.  He  felt  that  he  had 
attached  his  signature  to  a  falsehood,  for  he  had  no 
intention  of  attending  mass  or  abjuring  his  religion. 
But  his  neighbours  were  now  abjuring  all  round. 
His  intimate  friend,  the  Sieur  de  Boisse',  had  a  com- 
pany of  musketeers  quartered  on  him  until  he  signed. 
Another  neighbour,  the  Sieur  de  Montigny,  was  in 
like  manner  compelled  to  abjure, — his  mother  and 
four  daughters,  to  avoid  the  written  lie,  having  pre- 
viously escaped  into  Holland.  None  were  allowed  to 
go  free.  Old  M.  de  Grosmdnil,  De  Bostaquet's  father- 
in-law,  though  laid  up  by  gout  and  scarce  able  to 
hold  a  pen,  was  compelled  to  sign.  In  anticipation  of 
the  quartering  of  the  dragoons  on  the  family,  his  wife 
had  gone  into  concealment,  the  children  had  left  the 
house,  and  even  the  domestics  could  with  difficulty  be 
induced  to  remain.  The  eldest  daughter  fled  through 
Picardy  into  Holland  ;  the  younger  daughters  took 
refuge  with  their  relatives  in  Rouen;  the  son  also 
fled,  none  knew  whither.  Madame  de  Grosme'nil 
issued  from  her  concealment  to  take  her  place  by 
her  suffering  husband's  bed,  and  she  too  was  com- 
pelled to  sign  her  abjuration  ;  but  she  was  so  shocked 


206     THE  FAMIL  Y  SICfJV  THEIR  ABJURA Tl ON.    CHAP,  xil 


and  grieved  by  the  sin  she  had  committed,  that  she 
shortly  after  fell  ill  and  died.  "All  our  families," 
says  De  Bostaquet,  "succumbed  by  turns."  A  body 
of  troops  next  made  their  appearance  at  La  Fon- 
telaye,  and  required  all  the  members  of  the  household 
to  sign  their  abjuration.  De  Bostaquet 's  wife,  his 
mother — whose  grey  hairs  did  not  protect  her — his 
sons,  daughters,  and  domestics,  were  all  required  to 
sign. 

The  whole  family  now  began  seriously  to  meditate 
Might  from  France, — De  Bostaquet's  mother,  notwith- 
standing her  burden  of  eighty  years,  being  one  of  the 
most  eager  to  escape.  Attempts  were  first  made  to 
send  away  the  girls  singly,  and  several  journeys  were 
made  to  the  nearest  port  with  that  object ;  but  no 
ship  could  be  met  with,  and  the  sea-coast  was  found 
strictly  guarded.  De  Bostaquet's  design  having  become 
known  to  the  commandant  at  Dieppe,  he  was  privately 
warned  of  the  risk  he  ran  of  being  informed  against, 
and  of  having  his  property  confiscated  and  himself 
sent  to  the  galleys.  But  the  ladies  of  the  family 
became  every  day  more  urgent  to  flee,  declaring  that 
their  consciences  would  not  allow  them  any  longer 
hypocritically  to  conform  to  a  Church  which  they 
detested,  and  that  they  were  resolved  to  escape  from 
their  present  degradation  at  all  risks. 

At  length  it  was  arranged  that  an  opportunity 
should  be  taken  of  escaping  during  the  fetes  of  Pen- 
tecost, when  there  was  to  be  a  grand  review  of  the 
peasantry  appointed  to  guard  the  coast,  during  which 
they  would  necessarily  be  withdrawn  from  their  posts 
as  watchers  of  the  Huguenot  fugitives.  The  family 
plans  were  thus  somewhat  precipitated,  before  De 
Bostaquet  had  been  enabled  to  convert  his  property 
into  money,  and  thereby  provide  himself  with  the 
means  of  conducting  the  emigration  of  so  large  a 
family.  It  was  at  first  intended  that  the  young 
ladies  should  endeavour  to  make  their  escape,  their 
father  accompanying  them  to  the  coast  to  see  them 


CHAI-.  xii.        FLIGHT  O*  THE  DESEOSIAQUE'IS.  207 

safe  on  board  ship,  and  then  returning  to  watch  over 
his  wife,  who  was  approaching  the  time  of  her  confine- 
ment. 

On  the  morning  of  Pentecost  Sunday,  the  whole 
family  assembled  at  worship,  and  besought  the  blessing 
of  God  on  their  projected  enterprise.  After  dinner 
the  party  set  out.  It  consisted  of  De  Bostaquet,  his 
aged  mother,  several  grown  daughters,  and  many 
children.  The  father  had  intended  that  his  youngest 
son  should  stay  behind  ;  but  with  tears  in  his  eyes  he 
implored  leave  to  accompany  them.  The  cavalcade 
first  proceeded  to  the  village  of  La  Haliere,  where 
arrangements  had  been  made  for  their  spending  the 
night,  while  De  Bostaquet  proceeded  to  Saint  Aubin 
to  engage  an  English  vessel  lying  there  to  take  them 
off  the  coast. 

The  following  night,  about  ten  o'clock,  the  party 
set  out  from  Luneray,  accompanied  by  many  friends, 
and  a  large  number  of  fugitives  like  themselves, 
making  for  the  sea-coast.  De  Bostaquet  rode  first, 
with  his  sister  behind  him  on  a  pillion.  His  son- 
in-law,  De  Renfreville,  and  his  wife,  rode  another 
horse  in  like  manner.  De  Bostaquet's  mother,  the 
old  lady  of  eighty,  was  mounted  on  a  quiet  pony, 
and  attended  by  two  peasants.  His  son  and  daughter 
were  also  mounted,  the  latter  on  a  peasant's  horse, 
which  carried  the  valises.  De  Renfreville's  valet  rode 
another  nag,  and  was  armed  with  a  musketoon.  Thus 
mounted,  and  after  many  adieux,  the  party  set  out  for 
Saint  Aubin.  On  their  way  thither  they  were  joined 
by  other  relatives — M.  de  Montcornet,  an  old  officer 
in  the  French  army,  De  Bostaquet's  brother-in-law, 
and  M.  de  Bequigny,  who  was  accompanied  by  a 
German  valet,  with  another  young  lady  behind  him 
on  a  pillion. 

"  We  found  before  us  in  the  plain,"  says  De  Bos- 
taquet, "more  than  three  hundred  persons  —  men, 
women,  and  children — all  making  for  the  sea-coast, 
some  for  Saint  Aubin,  and  others  for  Quibervilie. 


208  DEPARTURE  FOR,  THE  COAST.  CHAP  xn. 


Nearly  tbe  whole  of  these  people  were  peasants,  there 
being  very  few  of  the  better  class  among  them  ;  and 
none  bore  arms  but  ourselves  and  the  two  valets  of  De 
Be'quigny  and  De  Renfreville,  who  carried  musketoons. 
The  facility  with  which  fugitives  had  heretofore  been 
enabled  to  escape,  and  the  belief  that  there  was  no 
danger  connected  with  our  undertaking,  made  us 
travel  without  much  precaution.  The  night  was 
charming,  and  the  moon  shone  out  brightly.  The 
delicious  coolness  which  succeeded  the  heat  of  the 
preceding  day  enabled  the  poor  peasants  on  foot  to 
march  forward  with  a  lighter  step  ;  and  the  prospect  of 
a  speed}7  deliverance  from  their  captivity  made  them 
almost  run  towards  the  shore  with  as  much  joy  as 
if  they  had  been  bound  for  a  wedding-party.  *  *  * 

"  Those  who  intended  to  embark  at  Quiberville  now 
left  us,  while  those  who  were  bound  for  Saint  Aubin 
proceeded  in  that  direction.  As  yet  we  had  en- 
countered no  obstacle.  "We  passed  through  Flainville 
without  any  one  speaking  to  us ;  and,  nattering  our- 
selves that  everything  was  propitious,  we  at  length 
reached  the  shore.  We  found  the  coast-guard  station 
empty  ;  no  one  appeared  ;  and  without  fear  we  alighted 
to  rest  our  horses.  We  seated  the  ladies  on  the  shingle 
by  the  side  of  my  mother,  a  tall  girl  from  Caen  keep- 
ing them  company. 

"  I  was  disappointed  at  seeing  no  signs  of  the  vessel 
in  which  we  were  to  embark.  I  did  not  know  that 
they  were  waiting  for  some  signal  to  approach  the 
land.  While  I  was  in  this  state  of  anxiety,  my  son 
came  to  inform  me  that  his  aunt  had  arrived.  Her 
carriage  had  not  been  able  to  reach  the  shore,  and  she 
waited  for  me  about  a  gun-shot  off.  I  went  on  foot, 
accompanied  by  my  son,  to  find  her.  She  and  her 
children  were  bathed  in  tears  at  the  thought  of  their 
separation.  She  embraced  me  tenderly,  and  the  sight 
of  herself  and  little  ones  afflicted  me  exceedingly.  My 
daughter  from  Ribceuf  alighted  from  the  carriage  to 
salute  me,  as  well  as  Mademoiselle  Duval. 


CHAP.  xii.         ATTACKED  BY  THE  COAST-GUARD.  209 

"  I  had  been  with  them  for  a  very  little  while,  when 
I  perceived  that  there  was  a  general  movement  down  by 
the  margin  of  the  sea,  where  I  had  left  my  party.  I 
asked  what  it  was,  and  fearing  lest  the  vessel  might 
appear  too  far  off,  I  proposed  to  have  the  carriage 
brought  nearer  to  the  shore ;  but  I  was  not  left  long 
in  uncertainty,  A  peasant  called  out  to  me,  that  there 
was  a  great  disturbance  going  forward ;  and  soon  after, 
I  heard  the  sound  of  drums  beating,  followed  by  a 
discharge  of  musketry.  It  immediately  occurred  to 
me  that  it  must  be  the  coast-guard  returned  to  occupy 
their  post,  who  had  fallen  on  our  party  ;  and  I  began 
to  fear  that  we  were  irretrievably  lost.  I  was  on  foot 
alone,  with  my  little  son,  near  the  carriage.  I  did  not 
see  two  horsemen,  who  were  coming  down  upon  us  at 
full  speed,  but  I  heard  voices  crying  with  all  their 
might,  '  Help !  help  ! '  I  found  myself  in  a  strange  state 
of  embarrassment,  without  means  of  defence,  when  my 
lacquey,  who  was  holding  my  horses  on  the  beach,  ran 
towards  me  with  my  arms. 

"  I  had  only  time  to  throw  myself  on  my  horse  and 
call  out  to  my  sister-in-law  in  the  carriage,  to  turn 
back  quickly,  when  I  hastened,  pistol  in  hand,  to  the 
place  whence  the  screams  proceeded.  Scarcely  was  I 
clear  of  the  carriage,  when  a  horseman  shouted,  'Kill ! 
kill !'  I  answered,  '  Fire,  rascal!'  At  the  same  moment 
he  fired  his  pistol  full  at  me,  so  near  that  the  discharge 
flashed  along  my  left  cheek  and  set  fire  to  my  peruke, 
but  without  wounding  me.  I  was  still  so  near  the 
carnage,  that  both  the  coachmen  and  lacquey  saw 
my  hair  in  a  blaze.  I  took  aim  with  my  pistol  at 
the  stomach  of  the  scoundrel,  but,  happily  for  him,  it 
missed  fire,  although  I  had  primed  it  afresh  on  leaving 
Luneray.  The  horseman  at  once  turned  tail,  accom- 
panied by  his  comrade.  I  then  took  my  other  pistol, 
and  followed  the  two  at  the  trot,  when  one  called  out 
to  the  other,  '  Fire  !  fire ! '  The  one  that  had  a  musket 
proceeded  to  take  aim  at  me,  and  as  it  was  nearly  as 
light  as  day,  and  I  was  only  two  or  three  horselengths 

14 


210  THE  COAST-GUARD  DEFEATED.        CHAP.  xil. 

from  him,  he  fired  and  hit  me  in  the  left  arm,  with 
which  I  was  holding  my  bridle.  I  moved  my  arm 
quickly,  to  ascertain  whether  it  was  broken,  and  put- 
ting spurs  to  my  horse,  I  gained  the  crupper  of  the 
man  who  had  first  fired  at  me,  who  was  now  on  my 
left,  and  as  he  bent  over  his  horse's  neck,  I  discharged 
my  pistol  full  into  his  haunch.  The  two  horsemen  at 
once  disappeared  and  fled. 

"  I  now  heard  the  voice  of  De  Bequigny,  who,  embar- 
rassed by  his  assailants  on  foot,  was  furiously  defending 
himself;  and,  without  losing  time  in  pursuing  my 
fugitives,  I  ran  up  to  him  sword  in  hand,  encountering 
on  the  way  my  son-in-law,  who  was  coming  towards 
me.  I  asked  him  whither  he  was  going;  and  he  said  that 
he  was  running  in  search  of  the  horses  which  his  valet 
had  taken  away.  I  told  him  it  was  in  vain,  and  that 
he  was  flying  as  fast  as  his  legs  could  carry  him,  for  I 
had  caught  sight  of  him  passing  as  I  mounted  my  horse. 
But  I  had  no  time  to  reason  with  him.  In  a  moment 
I  had  joined  De  Bequigny,  who  had  with  him  only 
old  Montcornet,  my  wife's  uncle;  but  before  a  few 
minutes  had  passep,  we  had  scattered  the  canaille,  and 
found  ourselves  masters  of  the  field.  De  Be*quigny 
informed  me  that  his  horse  was  wounded,  and  that  he 
could  do  no  more ;  and  I  told  him  that  I  was  wounded 
in  the  arm,  but  that  it  was  necessary,  without  loss  of 
time,  to  ascertain  what  had  become  of  the  poor  women. 

"  We  found  them  at  the  place  where  we  had  left 
them,  but  abandoned  by  everybody;  the  attendants 
and  the  rest  of  the  troop  having  run  away  along  the 
coast,  under  the  cliffs.  My  mother,  who  was  extremely 
deaf  through  age,  had  not  heard  the  firing,  and  did  not 
know  what  to  make  of  the  disturbance,  thinking  only 
of  the  vessel,  which  had  not  yet  made  its  appearance. 
My  sister,  greatly  alarmed,  on  my  reproaching  her 
with  not  having  quietly  followed  the  others,  answered 
that  my  mother  was  unable  to  walk,  being  too  much 
burdened  by  her  dress  ;  for,  fearing  the  coldness  of  the 
night,  she  had  clothed  herself  heavily.  M.  de  Bequigny 


CHAP.  xii.  ALARMING  SITUATION.  211 

then  suggested  that  it  might  yet  be  possible  to  rally 
some  of  the  men  of  our  troop,  and  thereby  rescue  the 
ladies  from  their  peril.  Without  loss  of  time  I  ran 
along  the  beach  for  some  distance,  supposing  that  some 
of  the  men  might  have  hidden  under  the  cliffs  through 
fear.  But  my  labour  was  useless:  I  saw  only  some 
girls,  who  fled  away  weeping.  Considering  that  my 
presence  would  be  more  useful  to  our  poor  women,  I 
rejoined  them  at  the  gallop.  M.  de  B^quigny,  on  his 
part,  had  returned  from  the  direction  of  the  coast- 
guard station,  to  ascertain  whether  there  were  any 
persons  lurking  there,  for  we  entertained  no  doubt 
that  it  was  the  coast-guard  that  had  attacked  us ;  and 
the  two  horsemen  with  whom  I  had  the  affair  con- 
firmed me  in  this  impression,  for  I  knew  that  such 
men  were  appointed  to  patrol  the  coasts,  and  visit  the 
posts  all  the  night  through.  On  coming  up  to  me, 
Bequigny  said  he  feared  we  were  lost ;  that  the  rascals 
had  rallied  to  the  number  of  about  forty,  and  were 
preparing  for  another  attack. 

"  We  had  no  balls  remaining  with  which  to  reload 
our  pistols.  Loss  of  blood  already  made  me  feel  very 
faint.  De  Be'quigny's  horse  had  been  wounded  in  the 
shoulder  by  a  musket-shot,  and  had  now  only  three 
legs  to  stand  upon.  In  this  extremity,  and  not  knowing 
what  to  do  to  save  the  women  and  children,  I  begged 
him  to  set  my  mother  behind  me  on  horseback.  He 
tried,  but  she  was  too  heavy,  and  he  set  her  down 
again.  M.  de  Montcornet  was  the  only  other  man  we 
had  with  us,  but  he  was  useless.  He  was  seventy- 
two,  and  the  little  nag  he  rode  could  not  be  of  much 
service.  De  Bequigny 's  valet  had  run  away,  after 
having  in  the  skirmish  fired  his  musketoon  and 
wounded  a  coast-guardsman  in  the  shoulder,  of  which 
the  man  died.  The  tide,  which  began  to  rise,  deterred 
me  from  leading  the  women  and  children  under  the 
cliffs;  besides,  I  was  uncertain  of  the  route  in  that 
direction.  My  mother  and  sister  conjured  me  to  fly 
instantly,  because,  if  I  was  captured,  my  ruin  was 


212  DE  BOSTAQUET  TAKES  TO  FLIGHT.     CHAP.  xn. 

certain,  whilst  the  worst  that  could  happen  to  them 
would  be,  confinement  in  a  convent. 

"  In  this  dire  extremity,  my  heart  was  torn  by  a 
thousand  conflicting  emotions,  and  I  was  overwhelmed 
with  despair  at  being  unable  to  rescue  those  so  dear  to 
me  from  the  perils  which  beset  them.  I  knew  not  what 
course  to  take.  While  in  this  state  of  irresolution,  I 
felt  myself  becoming  faint  through  loss  of  blood. 
Taking  out  my  handkerchief,  I  asked  my  sister  to  tie 
it  round  my  arm,  which  was  still  bleeding ;  but  want- 
ing the  nerve  to  do  so,  as  well  as  not  being  sufficiently 
tall  to  reach  me  on  horseback,  I  addressed  myself  to 
the  young  lady  from  Caen,  who  was  with  them,  and 
whom  they  called  La  Rosiere.  She  was  tall,  and  by 
the  light  of  the  moon  she  looked  a  handsome  girl. 
She  had  great  reluctance  to  approach  me  in  the  state 
in  which  I  was ;  but  at  last,  after  entreating  her 
earnestly,  she  did  me  the  service  which  I  required, 
and  the  further  flow  of  blood  was  stopped. 

"  After  resisting  for  some  time  the  entreaties  of  my 
mother  and  sister  to  leave  them  and  fly  for  my  life — 
but  seeing  that  my  staying  longer  with  them  was  use- 
less, and  that  De  Montcornet  and  De  Bdquigny  also 
urged  me  to  fly — I  felt  that  at  length  I  must  yield  to 
my  fate,  and  leave  them  in  the  hands  of  Providence. 
My  sister,  who  feared  being  robbed  by  the  coast-guard 
on  their  return,  gave  me  her  twenty  louis  d'or  to  keep, 
and  praying  Heaven  to  preserve  me,  they  forced  me  to 
leave  them  and  take  to  flight,  which  I  did  with  the 
greatest  grief  that  I  had  ever  experienced  in  the  whole 
course  of  my  life." l 

De  Bostaquet  and  his  friend  De  Bdquigny  first  fled 
along  the  shore,  but  the  shingle  greatly  hindered  them. 
On  their  way  they  fell  in  first  with  De  Bdquigny's 
valet,  who  had  fled  with  the  horses,  and  shortly  after 
with  Judith-Julie,  Dumont's  little  daughter,  accom- 
panied by  a  peasant  and  his  wife.  She  was  lifted  up 


M&nwirea  Intdits,  pp.  121-5. 


CHAP.  XII.  FINDS  TEMPORARY  SHELTER.  213 


and  placed  in  front  of  the  valet,  and  they  rode  on 
Leaving  the  sea-shore  by  a  road  which  led  from  the 
beach  inland,  Dumont  preceded  them,  his  drawn 
sword  in  his  hand.  They  had  not  gone  far  when  they 
were  met  by  six  horsemen,  who  halted  and  seemed 
uncertain  whether  to  attack  or  not;  but  observing 
Dumont  in  an  attitude  of  defence,  they  retired,  and 
the  fugitives  fled,  as  fast  as  Bequigny's  wounded  horse 
would  allow  them,  to  Luneray,  to  the  house  from 
which  they  had  set  out  on  the  previous  night.  There 
Dumont  left  his  daughter,  and  again  De  Bequigny  and 
he  rode  out  into  the  night.  As  day  broke,  they  reached 
St.  Laurent.  They  went  direct  to  the  house  of  a 
Huguenot  surgeon,  who  removed  Dumont's  bloody 
shirt,  probed  the  wound  to  his  extreme  agony,  but 
could  not  find  the  ball, — the  surgeon  concluding  that  it ' 
was  firmly  lodged  between  the  two  bones  of  the  fore- 
arm. The  place  was  too  unsafe  for  Dumont  to  remain ; 
and  though  suffering  much  and  greatly  needing  rest,  he 
set  out  again,  and  made  for  his  family  mansion  at  La 
Fontelaye.  But  he  did  not  dare  to  enter  the  house. 
Alighting  at  the  door  of  one  of  his  tenants  named 
Malherbe,  devoted  to  his  interest,  he  despatched  him 
with  a  message  to  Madame  de  Bostaquet,  who  at 
once  hastened  to  her  husband's  side.  Her  agony  of 
grief  may  be  imagined  on  seeing  him,  pale  and  suffer- 
ing, his  clothes  covered  with  blood,  and  his  bandaged 
arm  in  a  sling.  Giving  her  hasty  instructions  as  to  what 
she  was  to  do  in  his  absence — amongst  other  things 
with  respect  to  the  sale  of  his  property  and  everything 
that  could  be  converted  into  money — and  after  much 
weeping  and  taking  many  tender  embraces  of  his  wife 
and  daughters,  committing  them  to  the  care  of  God,  he 
mounted  again  and  fled  northwards  for  liberty  and 
life. 

De  Bostaquet  proceeds  in  his  narrative  to  give  a 
graphic  account  of  his  flight  across  Normandy, 
Picardy,  Artois,  and  Flanders,  into  Holland,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  traversed  wor^s,  swam  rivers,  and 


214  II  I,, III     I  MO    J'K    \J(DY.  fJIAJ     Ctt 

hairlu-eadth  eSfiapM       Knowing  (lie  country 
ly,  and  having  many  fru-nds  and  relative*  in 

Normandy  and    I'ieardy     Koman    <  at  l.'.iir-     M    V«U    M 

Protextants,  he  often  contrived  t       •  •,-,  •    .-.   ni^ht1* 

helt,-,,     a     ehan;-e     of      ||f,.   •        ;,„,         ,oln<'titl|c         :,       •    •    :    •    _• . 

..I  l,..t  .-;  .  loi  hiinwlf  aii'l  hi;-;  IVi. M.I  Saint  R\>y,  who 
accompanied  him  They  lodged  tin-  fit  t  r.r/ht  ;,' 
VnrvMiiiM-H  witli  a  kiri'inan  on  whom  h<-  <-.<>u\<]  rely:  for 

M.  de  Verdun,  May*  De  Bcwtaquet,  "WM  A  good  man, 
though  i,  papbt  and  even  a  bigot."  A  surgeon  wa» 

.•  nt    Inr  lo  .!,,•       tl,,.  fi|..iti\«  ;-,  arm,  whit-h    |,a.|   \,<  .-,,,,,<• 

inewauingly  painful .    The  nurfleoo  probed  the  \\- « . .  1 1 1 . 1 . 
but  *till  no  t>all  oould  be  found.     Mounting  again,  the 
two  rod*-  all  'lay,  and  by  nightfall  !«•;, 
fffH^^fg  for  a  vkilled  army  turgeon,  the  wound  was 

|,r..bi-.|    a;-ain      l.iit     with     no    [,c(t.,  .      -.          •          ||    ,,      the 

ruiuour  of  the  attair  At  Saint  Aubin,  greatly  magnified, 

n-m-lii-.l    !»<•  Bo:,l,a<|urt,  ami   lin-lin;-  that    his  only    .at.  ty 

lay  in  flight,  he  gtarted  auain  with  hU  friend  and  to»k 
the  route  for  Holland  through  Heard?,  They  rode 
onwards  to  Belozane,  then  to  Neufchitel,  where  Saint- 
i  parted,  returning  home. 

Th<  fugitive  Mifiiiid  Fouearmont  alone  by  moon- 
light in  great  pain,  hi*  arm  being  exceedingly  swollen 
and  much  inflamed,  fib  at  once  tent  for  a  surgeon, 
who  iiivwM-ii  ih.  wound,  hut  r.-ar.-.i  gangrene.  Next 
morning  the  inflammation  had  subnided,  and  he  set 
">n,  again,  reaching  the  outskirts  of  •:<•!> 

!..•  |,us:.i-'l  on  ihr  left,  lint!  arriving  a(,  ]'„„<.  ,),    |<«-niy. 

h.      ||,..«     r,o,-,,|    (hi-    Sommc.          Mr    WHS    now    Mi     IVa,,|y. 

Pressing  onward,  he  reached  Pro vj  lie,  where  he  WM 
kindlv  entertained  for  the  night  by  a  Prote^ 

•-      •        M    dc   Moiithtic       Tli''  cam  an<i  inHamtnalion  m 

In       aim    ;.lill     iliciX'HMing,    llu  n     \Vf 

to,          Thr    wound,    \vhi-n     -'XpOied,  Wa»    foiind     hlacK. 

sw»ll< n.   .Mud   angry-loolsing.      The  surgeon  sounded 

agttin,  lound    n<>   i.ail,  and   concluded    |,y   n'OOtQttietl'i 

IM  il.  ,  t  i<  I  ami  low  MI.  I,  The  patient  n  maincd  with 
hi  In.  M<|  (or  i\\..  da\s.  diirin;-;  which  M.  Mont.. 


CHAP.  m.  JUt&irES  rr  HOLLA*!*,  sis 

arrived,  for  the  purpose  of  accompanying  him  in  his 
flight  into  Holland. 

Next  day,  to  De  Bostaquet's  great  surprise,  the  ball, 
for  which  the  surgeons  had  so  often  been  searching  in 
vain,  was  found  in  the  finger  of  one  of  his  gloves,  into 
which  it  had  dropped.  He  was  now  comparatively 
relieved;  and,  unwilling  to  trespass  longer  on  the  kind- 
ness of  his  friends,  after  a  few  more  days'  rest  be  again 
took  the  road  with  his  aged  relative.  They  travelled 
by  Le  Quesnel  and  Doulkns,  then  along  the  great 
high  road  of  Hesdin  and  through  the  woods  of  the 
Abbey  of  Sercan ;  next  striking  the  Arras  road  (where 
they  were  threatened  with  an  attack  by  foot-pads), 
they  arrived  at  La  Gnorgues;  and  crossing  the  frontier, 
they  at  last,  after  many  adventures  and  perils,  arrived 
in  safety  at  Courtrai,  where  they  began  to  breathe 
freely.  But  Dnmont  did  not  consider  himself  safe 
until  he  had  reached  Ghent;  for  Courtrai  was  still 
under  the  dominion  of  Spain.  So  again  pushing  on 
the  fugitives  rested  not  until  they  arrived  at  Ghent, 
late  at  night,  where  the  two  way-worn  travellers  at 
length  slept  soundly.  Next  day,  Montoornet,  who 
though  seventy-two  years  old,  had  stood  the  fatigues 
of  the  journey  surprisingly  well,  proceeded  to  join  his 
son,  then  lying  with  many  other  refugee  officers  in 
garrison  at  Maastricht ;  while  De  Bostaquet  went  for- 
ward into  Holland  to  join  the  fugitives  who  were  now 
flocking  thither  in  great  numbers  from  all  parts  of 
France. 

Such  is  a  rapid  outline  of  the  escape  of  Dumont  de 
aquet   into  the  great  Protestant  asylum  of  the 
north.     His  joy,  however,  was  mingled  with  grief,  for 
he  had  left  his  wife  and  family  behind  him  in  France, 
under  the  heel  of  the  persecutor.     After  many  painful 
rumours  of  the  severe  punishments  to  which  his  chil- 
dren had  been  subject  ed,  he  was  at  length  joined  by 
his  wife,  his  son,  and  one  of  his  daughters,  who  sue- 
led  in  escaping  by  sea.     The  ladies -taken  prisoners 
by  the  coast-guard  at  St.  Aubin,  besides  being  heavily 


216     ENTEPS  THE  SERVICE  OF  WILLIAM  III.     CHAP  xn. 

fined,  were  condemned  to  be  confined  in  convents' 
some  for  several  years  each,  and  others  for  life.  The 
gentlemen  and  men-servants  who  accompanied  them, 
were  condemned  to  the  galleys  for  life,  and  their  pro- 
perty and  goods  were  declared  forfeited  to  the  King. 
This  completed  the  ruin  of  Dumont  de  Bostaquet,  so 
far  as  worldly  wealth  was  concerned ;  for  by  the  law 
of  Louis  XIV.,  the  property  not  only  of  all  fugitives, 
but  of  all  who  abetted  fugitives  in  their  attempt  to 
escape,  was  declared  confiscated, — while  they  were 
themselves  liable,  if  caught,  to  suffer  the  penalty  of 
death. 

De  Bostaquet  was  hospitably  received  by  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  and,  on  his  application  for  employment,  he 
was  appointed  to  the  same  rank  in  the  Dutch  army 
that  he  had  before  held  in  that  of  Louis  XIV.  When 
the  expedition  to  England  was  decided  upon,  such  of 
the  refugee  officers  as  were  disposed  to  join  William 
were  invited  to  send  in  their  names  ;  and  De  Bostaquet 
at  once  volunteered,  with  numbers  more.  Fifty  of  the 
French  officers  were  selected  for  the  purpose  of  being 
incorporated  in  the  two  dragoon  regiments,  red  and 
blue ;  and  De  Bostaquet  was  appointed  to  a  captaincy 
in  the  former  regiment,  of  which  De  Louvigny  was 
the  colonel. 

The  fleet  of  William  had  already  been  assembled  at 
Maasluis,  and  with  the  troops  on  board,  shortly  spread 
its  sails  for  England.  But  the  expedition,  consisting 
of  about  five  hundred  sail,  had  scarcely  left  the  Dutch 
shores  before  it  was  dispersed  by  a  storm,  which  raged 
for  three  days.  One  ship,  containing  two  companies 
of  French  infantry,  commanded  by  Captains  de  Chau- 
vernay  and  Rapin-Thoras  (afterwards  the  historian), 
was  driven  towards  the  coast  of  Norway.  Those  on 
board  gave  themselves  up  for  lost ;  but  the  storm  abat- 
ing, the  course  of  the  vessel  was  altered,  and  she  after- 
wards reached  the  Maas  in  safety.  Very  few  ships 
were  missing  when  the  expedition  re-assembled;  but 
among  the  lost  was  one  containing  four  companies  of  a 


CHAP.  XII.    WILLIAM'S  FLEET  SAILS  FOR  ENGLAND.  217 

Holstein  regiment  and  some  sixty  French  officers  and 
volunteers.  When  De  Bostaquet's  ship  arrived  in  the 
Maas,  it  was  found  that  many  of  the  troop  horses  had 
been  killed  in  the  storm,  or  were  so  maimed  as  to  be 
rendered  unfit  for  service.  After  a  few  days'  indefati- 
gable labour,  however,  all  damages  were  made  good, 
the  fleet  was  refitted  anew,  and  again  put  to  sea, — this 
time  with  better  prospects  of  success. 

"Next  day,"  says  De  Bostaquet,  in  his  Memoirs, 
"  we  saw  the  coasts  of  France  and  England  stretching 
before  us  on  either  side.  I  confess  that  I  did  not  look 
upon  my  ungrateful  country  without  deep  emotion, 
as  I  thought  of  the  many  ties  of  affection  which  still 
bound  me  to  it, — of  my  children,  and  the  dear  relatives 
I  had  left  behind :  but  as  our  fleet  might  even  now  be 
working  out  their  deliverance,  and  as  England  was 
drawing  nearer,  I  felt  that  one  must  cast  such  thoughts 
aside,  and  trust  that  God  would  yet  put  it  into  the 
heart  of  our  Hero  to  help  our  poor  country  under  the 
oppressions  beneath  which  she  was  groaning.  The 
fleet  was  regarded  by  the  people  on  the  opposite  shores 
of  the  Channel  with  very  different  emotions.  France 
trembled;  while  England,  seeing  her  deliverer  ap- 
proaching, leapt  with  joy.  It  seemed  as  if  the  Prince 
took  a  pleasure  in  alarming  France,  whose  coast  he 
long  kept  in  sight.  But  at  length,  leaving  it  behind, 
we  made  for  the  opposite  shore,  and  all  day  long 
we  held  along  the  English  coast,  sailing  towards  the 
west.  Night  hid  the  land  from  further  view,  and  next 
morning  not  a  trace  of  it  was  to  be  seen.  As  the  wind 
held  good,  we  thought  that  by  this  time  we  must  have 
passed  out  of  the  English  Channel,  though  we  knew 
not. whither  we  were  bound.  Many  of  our  soldiers 
from  Poitou  hoped  that  we  might  effect  a  landing 
there.  But  at  three  in  the  afternoon  we  again  caught 
sight  of  the  English  land  on  our  right,  and  found  that 
we  were  still  holding  the  same  course.  M.  de  Bethen- 
cour,  who  knew  the  coast,  assured  us  that  we  were 
bound  for  Plymouth;  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  such 


218  LAXDING  AT  TORS  AY.  CHAP.  xit. 

was  the  Prince's  design.  But  the  wind  having  shifted, 
we  were  astonished  to  see  our  vanguard  put  about, 
and  sail  as  if  right  down  upon  us.  Nothing  could  be 
more  beautiful  than  the  evolution  of  the  immense 
flotilla  which  now  took  place  under  a  glorious  sky. 
The  main  body  of  the  fleet  and  the  rear-guard  lay  to, 
in  order  to  allow  the  Prince's  division  to  pass  through 
them,  on  which  every  ship  in  its  turn  prepared  to 
tack.  There  were  no  longer  any  doubts  as  to  where  we 
were  to  land.  We  distinctly  saw  the  people  along  the 
heights  watching,  and  doubtless  admiring,  the  magni- 
ficent spectacle ;  but  there  appeared  to  be  no  signs  of 
alarm  at  sight  of  the  multitude  of  ships  about  to  enter 
their  beautiful  bay." 

De  Bostaquet  proceeds  to  describe  the  landing  at 
Torbay,  and  the  march  of  the  little  army  inland,  through 
mud  and  mire,  under  heavy  rain  and  along  villainous 
roads,  until  they  entered  Exeter  amidst  the  acclama- 
tions of  the  .people.  De  Bostaquet  found  that  many  of 
his  exiled  countrymen  had  already  settled  at  Exeter, 
where  they  had  a  church  and  minister  of  their  own. 
Among  others,  he  met  with  a  French  tailor  from  Lintot 
in  Normandy,  who  had  become  established  in  business, 
besides  other  refugees  from  Dieppe  and  the  adjoining 
country,  who  were  settled  and  doing  well.  De  Bosta- 
quet expressed  himself  much  gratified  with  his  short 
stay  in  Exeter,  which  he  praised  for  its  wealth,  its 
commerce,  its  manufactures,  and  the  hospitality  of  its 
inhabitants. 

After  resting  six  or  seven  days  at  Exeter,  William 
and  his  army  marched  upon  London  through  Salisbury, 
being  daily  joined  by  fresh  adherents, — gentry,  officers, 
and  soldiers.  The  army  of  James  made  no  effort  at 
resistance,  but  steadily  retii'ed;  the  only  show  of  a 
stand  being  made  at  Reading,  where  five  hundred  of 
the  King's  horse,  doubtless  fighting  without  heart,  were 
put  to  flight  by  a  hundred  and  fifty  of  William's 
dragoons,  led  by  the  Huguenot  Colonel  Marouit.  Not 
another  shot  was  fired  before  William  arrived  in 


CHAP.  xil.  ARRIVAL  IN  LONDON.  219 

London,  where  he  was  welcomed  as  the  nation's  deli- 
verer. By  this  time  James  was  making  arrangements 
for  flight,  together  with  his  Jesuits.  He  might  easily 
have  been  captured  and  made  a  martyr  of;  but  the 
mistake  made  with  Charles  I.  was  not  repeated  in  his 
case,  and  James,  having  got  on  board  a  smack  in  the 
Thames,  was  allowed  to  slink  ignominiously  out  of  the 
kingdom. 

The  Huguenot  officers  and  soldiers  of  William's  army 
found  many  of  their  exiled  countrymen  already  settled 
in  London.  Soho  in  the  west,  and  Spitalfields  in  the 
east,  were  almost  entirely  French  quarters.  Numbers 
of  new  churches  were  about  this  time  opened  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  immigrants,  in  which  the  service 
was  conducted  in  French  by  their  own  ministers,  some 
of  the  most  eminent  of  whom  had  taken  refuge  in 
England.  The  exiles  formed  communities  by  them- 
selves ;  they  were  for  the  most  part  organised  in  congre- 
gations ;  and  a  common  cause  and  common  sufferings 
usually  made  them  soon  acquainted  with  each  other. 
De  Bostaquet  and  his  compatriots,  therefore,  did  not 
find  themselves  so  much  strangers  in  London  as  they 
expected  to  be ;  for  they  were  daily  encountering 
friends  and  brothers  in  misfortune. 

A  distinguished  little  circle  of  exiles  had  by  this 
time  been  formed  at  Greenwich,  of  which  the  aged 
Marquis  de  Ruvigny  formed  the  centre.  That  noble- 
man had  for  many  years  been  one  of  the  most  trusted 
servants  of  the  French  Government.  He  held  various 
high  offices  in  his  own  country, — being  a  general  in  the 
French  army  and  a  councillor  of  state  ;  and  he  had  on 
more  than  one  occasion  represented  France  as  envoy 
at  the  English  court.  But  he  was  a  Protestant,  and 
was  therefore  precluded  from  holding  public  office  sub- 
sequent to  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  "Had 
the  Marquis,"  says  Macaulay,  "  chosen  to  remain  in  his 
native  country,  he  and  his  household  would  have  been 
permitted  to  worship  God  privately  according  to  their 
own  forms.  But  Ruvigny  rejected  all  offers,  cast  in 


220  THE  MARQUIS  DE  RUVIGNY.          CHAP.  xn. 

his  lot  with  his  brethren,  and,  at  upwards  of  eighty 
years  of  age,  quitted  Versailles,  where  he  might  still 
have  been  a  favourite,  for  a  modest  dwelling  at  Green- 
wich. That  dwelling  was,  during  the  last  months  of 
his  life,  the  resort  of  all  that  was  most  distinguished 
among  his  fellow-exiles.  His  abilities,  his  experience, 
and  his  munificent  kindness,  made  him  the  undisputed 
chief  of  the  refugees.  He  was  at  the  same  time  half 
an  Englishman;  for  his  sister  had  been  Countess  of 
Southampton,  and  he  was  uncle  of  Lady  Russell.  He 
was  long  past  the  time  of  action.  But  his  two  sons, 
both  men  of  eminent  courage,  devoted  their  swords  to 
the  service  of  William." 1 

A  French  church  had  been  founded  by  the  Marquis 
of  Ruvigny  at  Greenwich,  in  1686,2  of  which  M.  Severin, 
an  old  and  valued  friend  of  De  Bostaquet  and  his  wife, 
was  appointed  pastor ;  so  that  our  Huguenot  officer  at 
once  found  himself  at  home.  He  was  cordially  received 
by  the  aged  Marquis,  who  encouraged  him  to  bring 
over  his  family  from  Holland  and  settle  them  in  the 
place.  This  De  Bostaquet  did  accordingly,  and  during 
his  brief  residence  at  Greenwich,  his  wife  presented 
him  with  another  son,  his  nineteenth  child,  to  which 
the  Marquis  de  Ruvigny  stood  godfather,  and  after 
whom  he  was  named.  Only  a  month  later,  the  good 
old  Marquis  died,  and  De  Bostaquet,  with  many  of  the 
more  illustrious  exiles,  followed  his  remains  to  his 
tomb  in  the  church  of  the  Savoy,  in  the  Strand,  where 
he  was  buried. 

Meanwhile,  William  had  been  occupied  in  consoli- 
dating his  government,  and  reducing  the  disaffected 
parts  of  the  kingdom  to  obedience.  With  Scotland 
this  was  comparatively  easy ;  but  with  Ireland  the 


1  MACAULAY — History  of  Eng-  behind  the  shop  of  Mr.  Harding, 

land,  vol.  iii.  ch.  14.  oilman.  The  Commandments  were 

-  The  French  chapel  at  Green-  written  up  in  French  on  each  side 

wich  was  recently  in  existence,  of  the  pulpit,  until  the  year  1814, 

and  used  as  a  Baptist  chapel.    It  when  they  were  effaced, 
was  situated  in  London  Street, 


CHAP.  xii.        JAMES  II.  LANDS  IN  IRELAND.  221 

case  was  very  different.  The  Irish  Roman  Catholics 
remained  loyal  to  James,  because  of  his  religion ;  and 
when  he  landed  at  Kinsale,  in  March  1689,  he  saw 
nearly  the  whole  country  at  his  feet.  Only  the  little 
Presbyterian  colony  established  in  Ulster  made  any 
show  of  resistance.  James  had  arrived  in  Ireland 
with  substantial  help  in  arms  and  money  obtained 
from  the  French  king ;  and  before  many  weeks  had 
elapsed,  40,000  Irish  stood  in  arms  to  support  his 
authority.  The  forces  of  William  in  Ireland  were  few 
in  number  and  bad  in  quality,  consisting  for  the  most 
part  of  raw  levies  of  young  men  taken  suddenly  from 
the  plough.  They  were  therefore  altogether  unequal 
to  cope  with  the  forces  of  James,  Tyrconnel,  and  the 
French  Marshal  de  Rosen ;  and  but  for  vigorous  mea- 
sures on  the  part  of  William  and  his  government,  it  was 
clear  that  Ireland  would  be  lost  to  the  English  crown. 
The  best  troops  of  William  had  by  this  time  been 
either  sent  abroad  or  disbanded.  The  English  and 
Dutch  veteran  regiments  had  for  the  most  part  been 
despatched  to  Flanders  to  resist  the  French  armies  of 
Louis,  who  threatened  a  diversion  in  favour  of  James 
in  that  quarter;  while,  in  deference  to  the  jealousy 
which  the  English  people  naturally  entertained  against 
the  maintenance  amongst  them  of  a  standing  army 
— especially  an  army  of  foreigners — the  Huguenot 
regiments  had  beer  disbanded,  almost  immediately 
after  the  abdication  of  James  and  his  flight  into 
France.  So  soon,  however,  as  the  news  of  James's 
landing  in  Ireland  reached  London,  measures  were 
taken  for  their  re-embodiment;  and  four  excellent 
regiments  were  at  once  raised — one  of  cavalry  and 
three  of  infantry.  The  cavalry  regiment  was  raised 
by  Schomberg,  who  was  its  colonel;  and  it  was  en- 
tirely composed  of  French  gentlemen — officers  and 
privates.  The  infantry  regiments  were  raised  with 
the  help  of  the  aged  Marquis  de  Ruvigny ;  and  at  his 
death,  in  July  1689,  the  enterprise  was  zealously  pro- 
secuted by  his  two  sons — Henry,  the  second  Marquis, 


222  THE  HUGUENOT  REGIMENTS.          CHAP.  xn. 

and  Pierre  de  Ruvigny,  afterwards  better  known  as 
La  Caillemotte.  These  regiments  were  respectively 
commanded  by  La  Caillemotte,  Cambon,  and  La 
Meloniere. 

The  French  regiments  were  hastily  depatched  to 
join  the  little  army  of  about  10,000  men  sent  into  the 
north  of  Ireland,  to  assist  the  Protestants  in  arms  there, 
during  the  same  month  in  which  they  were  raised.  Their 
first  operation  was  conducted  against  the  town  of  Car- 
rickfergus,  which  fell  after  a  siege  of  a  week,  but  not 
without  loss, — for  the  Huguenot  regiments  who  led  the 
assault  suffered  heavily,  the  Marquis  de  Venours  and 
numerous  other  officers  being  amongst  the  killed. 

Shortly  after,  the  Huguenot  regiment  of  cavalry 
arrived  from  England ;  and,  joined  by  three  regiments  of 
Enniskilleners,  the  army  marched  southward.  De  Bos- 
taquet  held  his  former  rank  of  captain  in  Schomberg's 
horse ;  and  he  has  recorded  in  his  memoirs  the  incidents 
of  the  campaign  with  his  usual  spirit.  The  march  lay 
through  burnt  villages  and  a  country  desolated  by  the 
retiring  army  of  James.  They  passed  through  Newry 
and  Carlingford,  both  of  which  towns  were  found 
in  ashes.  They  at  length  arrived  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Dundalk,  where  they  encamped.  James  lay  at 
Drogheda  with  an  army  of  20,000  men,  or  double  their 
number.  But  the  generals  of  neither  force  wished  for 
battle ; — Schomberg,  because  he  could  not  rely  upon  his 
troops,  who  were  ill-fed  and  (excepting  the  Huguenot 
veterans)  ill-disciplined ; l  and  Count  Rosen,  James's 
French  general,  because  he  did  not  wish  to  incur  the 
risk  of  a  defeat.  The  raw  young  English  soldiers  in 
the  camp  at  Dundalk,  unused  to  campaigning,  died  in 

1  Schomberg    found  that  the  better  than  the  others."    And  a 

greater  number  of  them  had  never  few    months  later  he    added — 

before  fired  a  pun.     "  Others  can  "  From    these  three    regiments, 

inform  your  Majesty,"  he  wrote  and  from  that  of  cavalry,  your 

to    William     (12th   Oct.,    1689)  Majesty  has   more  service  than 

that    the    three    regiments    of  from  double  the  number  of  the 

French  infantry  and  their  regi-  others." 
ment  of  cavalry    do  their   duty 


CHAP.  xn.     ENLISTMENT  OF  HUGUENOTS  ABROAD.     223 

great  numbers.  The  English  foot  were  mostly  without 
shoes  and  very  badly  fed ;  yet  they  were  eager  to  fight, 
thinking  it  better  to  die  in  the  field  than  in  the  camp. 
When  they  clamoured  to  be  led  into  action,  Schomberg 
good-humouredly  said,  "  We  English  have  stomach 
enough  for  fighting :  it  is  a  pity  that  we  are  not  equally 
fond  of  some  other  parts  of  a  soldier's  business." 

At  length,  after  enduring  great  privations,  and 
leaving  many  of  his  men  under  the  sod  at  Dun- 
dalk,  Schomberg  decided  to  follow  the  example  of 
the  Jacobite  army,  and  go  into  winter  quarters.  His 
conduct  of  the  campaign  occasioned  much  dissatis- 
faction in  England,  where  it  was  expected  that  he 
should  meet  and  fight  James  with  a  famished  army 
of  less  than  half  the  number,  and  under  every  disad- 
vantage. It  had  now,  however,  become  necessary  to 
act  with  vigour  if  the  policy  initiated  by  the  Revolu- 
tion of  1688  was  to  be  upheld;  for  a  well-appointed 
army  of  7300  excellent  French  infantry,  commanded 
by  the  Count  of  Lauzun,  with  immense  quantities  of 
arms  and  ammunition,  were  on  their  way  from  France, 
with  the  object  of  expelling  the  Protestants  from  Ire- 
land and  replacing  James  upon  the  British  throne. 

William  now  felt  that  the  great  crisis  of  the  struggle 
had  arrived.  Determining  to  take  the  field  in  person, 
he  made  his  arrangements  accordingly.  He  ordered 
back  from  Flanders  his  best  English  and  Dutch  regi- 
ments. He  also  endeavoured,  so  far  as  he  could,  to 
fight  Frenchmen  with  Frenchmen ;  and  he  despatched 
agents  abroad,  into  all  the  countries  where  the  banished 
Huguenot  soldiers  had  settled,  inviting  them  to  take 
arms  with  him  against  the  enemies  of  their  faith.  His 
invitation  was  responded  to  with  alacrity.  Many  of 
Schomberg's  old  soldiers,  who  had  settled  in  Branden- 
burg, Switzerland,  and  the  provinces  of  the  Lower 
Rhine,  left  their  new  homes  and  flocked  to  the  stan- 
dard of  William.  The  Baron  d'Avejan,  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  an  English  regiment,  wrote  to  a  friend  in 
Switzerland,  urging  the  immediate  enlistment  of  expa- 


224  WILLIAM  III.  IN  IRELAND.  CHAP.  xn. 

triated  Protestants  for  his  regiment.  "  I  feel  assured," 
said  he,  "  that  you  will  not  fail  to  have  published  in  all 
the  French  churches  in  Switzerland  the  obligations 
under  which  the  refugees  lie  to  come  and  aid  us  in 
this  expedition,  which  is  directed  to  the  glory  of  God, 
and  ultimately  to  the  re-establishment  of  His  Church 
in  our  country." 

These  stirring  appeals  had  the  effect  of  attracting  a 
large  number  of  veteran  Protestant  soldiers  to  the  army 
of  William.  Sometimes  four  and  five  hundred  men 
left  Geneva  in  a  week  for  the  purpose  of  enlisting  in 
England.  Others  were  despatched  from  Lausanne, 
where  they  were  provided  by  the  Marquis  d'Arzilliers 
with  the  means  of  reaching  their  destination.  Many 
more,  scattered  along  the  shores  of  Lake  Leman,  were 
drilled  daily  under  the  flag  of  Orange,  notwithstanding 
the  expostulations  of  Louis'  agents,  and  sent  to  swell 
the  forces  of  William. 

By  these  means,  as  well  as  by  energetic  efforts  at 
home,1  William  was  enabled,  by  the  month  of  June, 
1690,  to  assemble  in  the  north  of  Ireland  an  army  of 
36,000  men — English,  French,  Dutch,  Danes,  and  Ger- 
mans ;  and  putting  himself  at  their  head,  he  at  once 
marched  southward.2  Arrived  at  the  Boyne,  about 

1  DE  FELICE — History  of  the  explained  to  his  majesty  the 

Fi-ench  Protestants  (p.  339),  says,  cause  of  his  being  settled  there ; 

that  "  England  raised  eleven  re-  and  as  the  king  was  about  to  pass 

giments  of  French  volunteers ;  "  on,  he  asked  permission  to  em- 

but  he  does  not  give  his  author-  brace  him.  To  this  William  at 

ity.  It  is  probable  this  number  once  assented,  receiving  the  Hu- 

is  an  exaggeration.  guenot's  salute  on  his  cheek, — 

*  William  landed  at  Oarrick-  after  which,  stooping  from  his 

fergus  on  the  14th  of  June,  1690.  horse  towards  Bulmer's  wife,  a 

From  thence  he  proceeded  to  pretty  Frenchwoman,  he  said, 

Belfast.  On  his  way  southward  "And  thy  wife  too ;"  and  saluted 

to  join  the  army  at  Lough  brick-  her  heartily.  The  name  Bulmer 

land,  when  passing  through  the  has  since  been  changed  to  Boomer, 

village  of  Lambeg,  near  Lisburn,  but  the  Christian  name  Rene  or 

he  was  addressed  by  one  Ren6  Rainey  is  still  preserved  mong 

Bulmer,  a  Huguenot  refugee,  the  descendants  of  the  family. — 

then  residing  in  a  house  now  Ulster  Journal  of  Archeology, 

known  as  The  Priory.  Rene  i.  135,  286-94. 


CHAP.  xii.  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOYNE.  225 

three  miles  west  of  Drogheda,  he  discerned  the  com- 
bined French  and  Irish  army  drawn  up  on  the  other 
side,  prepared  to  dispute  the  passage  of  the  river.  The 
Huguenot  regiments  saw  before  them  the  flags  of  Louis 
XIV.  and  James  II.  waving  together — the  army  of  the 
king  who  had  banished  them  from  country,  home,  and 
family, — making  common  cause  with  the  persecutor  of 
the  English  Protestants ;  and  when  it  became  known 
amongst  them  that  every  soldier  in  the  opposing  force 
bore  the  same  badge — the  white  cross  in  their  hats — 
which  distinguished  the  assassins  of  their  forefathers 
on  the  night  of  St.  Bartholomew,  they  burned  to  meet 
them  in  battle. 

On  the  morning  of  the  1st  of  July,  the  Count 
Me'nard  de  Schomberg,  one  of  the  old  marshal's  sons, 
was  ordered  to  cross  the  river  on  the  right,  by  the 
bridge  of  Slane,  and  turn  the  left  flank  of  the  opposing 
army.  This  movement  he  succeeded  in  accomplishing 
alter  a  short  but  sharp  conflict ;  upon  which  William 
proceeded  to  lead  his  left,  composed  of  cavalry,  across 
the  river,  considerably  lower  down.  At  the  same  time, 
the  main  body  of  infantry  composing  the  centre  was 
ordered  to  advance.  The  Dutch  guards  led,  closely 
followed  by  the  Huguenot  foot.  Plunging  into  the 
stream,  they  waded  across  and  reached  the  opposite 
bank  under  a  storm  of  cannon  and  musketry.  Scarcely 
had  they  struggled  up  the  right  bank,  than  the  Hu- 
guenot colonel,  La  Caillemote,  was  struck  down  by  a 
musket-shot.  As  he  was  being  carried  oif  the  field, 
covered  with  blood,  through  the  ranks  of  his  advanc- 
ing troops,  he  called  out  to  them,  "A  la  gloire,  mes 
enfans  '  a  la  gloire ! " 

A  strong  body  of  Irish  cavalry  charged  the  advanc- 
ing infantry  with  great  vigour,  shook  them  until  they 
reeled,  and  compelled  them  to  give  way.  Old  Marshal 
Schomberg,  who  stood  eagerly  watching  the  advance 
of  his  troops  from  the  northern  bank,  now  saw  that 
the  crisis  of  the  fight  had  arrived,  and  he  prepared  to 
act  accordingly.  Placing  himself  at  the  head  of  his 

IS 


226  JAMES  IT.    DEFEATED.  CHAP.  xn. 

Huguenot  regiment  of  horse  which  he  had  held  in 
reserve,  and  pointing  with  his  sword  across  the  river, 
he  called  out,  " Allons,  tries  amis!  rappelez  votre 
courage  et  vos  ressentements :  VOILA.  vos  PERSECU- 
TEURS  ! " l  and  plunged  into  the  stream.  On  reaching 
the  scene  of  contest,  a  furious  struggle  ensued.  The 
Dutch  and  Huguenot  infantry  rallied ;  and  William, 
coming  up  from  the  left  with  his  cavahy,  fell  upon 
the  Irish  flank  and  completed  their  discomfiture.  The 
combined  French  and  Irish  army  was  forced  through 
the  pass  of  Duleek,  and  fled  towards  Dublin — James 
II.  being  the  first  to  carry  thither  the  news  of  his 
defeat.2  William's  loss  did  not  exceed  400  men  ;  but, 
to  his  deep  grief,  Marshal  Schomberg  was  found 
amongst  the  fallen,  the  hero  of  eighty-two  having  been 
cut  down  in  the  mele'e  by  a  party  of  Tyrconnel's  horse ; 
and  he  lay  dead  upon  the  field,  with  many  other 
gallant  gentlemen. 

1  Rapin,  who  relates  this  inci-  Tyrconnel,  the  wife  of  his  vice- 
dent  in  his  History  of  England,  roy.     "Madam,"  said  he,  "your 
was  present  at  the  battle  of  the  countrymen  can  run  well."  "  Not 
Boyne  as  an  officer  in  one  of  the  quite  so  well  as  your  Majesty," 
Huguenot  regiments.  was  her  retort.  "  for  I  see  you 

2  On  reaching  Dublin  Castle.  have  won  the  race." 
James    was   received    by  Lady 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

HUGUENOT   OFFICERS   IN   THE   BRITISH   SERVICE. 

IT  forms  no  part  of  our  purpose  to  describe  the 
military  operations  in  Ireland,  which  followed  the 
battle  of  the  Boyne.  We  may,  however,  mention  the 
principal  Huguenot  officers  who  took  part  in  them. 
Amongst  these,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  was 
Henry,  second  Marquis  de  Ruvigny.  At  the  date 
of  the  Revocation,  he  had  attained  the  rank  of  bri- 
gadier in  the  army  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  was  considered 
an  excellent  officer,  having  served  with  great  distinc- 
tion under  Conde  and  Turenne.  Indeed,  it  is  believed 
that  the  French  army  in  Germany  would  have  been 
lost,  but  for  the  skill  with  which  he  reconciled  the 
quarrels  of  the  contending  chiefs  who  aspired  to  its 
command  after  the  death  of  Turenne. 

Louis  XIV.  desired  to  retain  Ruvigny  in  his  service ; 
but  casting  in  his  lot  with  the  exiled  Protestants,  he 
left  France  with  his  father  and  settled  with  him  at 
Greenwich,  where  he  dispensed  hospitality  and  bounty. 
He  did  not  at  first  join  the  British  army  which  fought 
in  Ireland.  But  when  he  heard  that  his  only  brother, 
De  la  Caillemotte,  as  well  as  Marshal  Schomberg,  had 
been  killed  at  the  Boyne,  he  could  restrain  his  ardour 
no  longer,  and  offered  his  services  to  William.  The 
King  appointed  him  major-general,  and  also  gave  him 
the  colonelcy  of  Schomberg's  regiment  of  Huguenot 
horse. 

Ruvigny  joined  the  army  of  General  Ginkell,  while 
engaged  in  the  siege  of  Athlone.  A  Huguenot  soldier 


228  RUVIGNY,   EARL   OF  GALWAY.        CHAP.  xm. 

was  the  first  to  mount  the  breach,  where  he  fell,  cheer- 
ing on  his  comrades.  The  place  was  taken  by  Ginkell, 
after  which  the  French  general,  Saint  Ruth,  retired 
with  the  Irish  army  to  Aughrim,  where  he  took  up  an 
almost  impregnable  position.  Notwithstanding  this 
advantage,  Ginkell  attacked  and  routed  the  Irish,  the 
principal  share  in  the  victory  being  attributed  to  the 
Marquis  de  Ruvigny  and  his  horse,  who  charged  im- 
petuously and  carried  everything  before  them. 

That  the  brunt  of  this  battle  was  borne  by  the 
Huguenot  regiments,  is  shown  by  the  extent  of  their 
loss.  Ruvigny 's  regiment  lost  144  men  killed  and 
wounded  ;  that  of  Cambon  106  ;  and  that  of  Belcastle 
85 — being  about  one-fifth  of  the  total  loss  on  the  side 
of  the  victors.  "  After  the  battle,"  says  De  Bostaquet, 
"  Ginkell  came  up  and  embraced  De  Ruvigny,  declaring 
how  much  he  was  pleased  with  his  bravery  and  his 
conduct ;  then  advancing  to  the  head  of  our  regiment, 
he  highly  praised  the  officers  as  well  as  the  soldiers. 
M.  Causaubon,  who  commanded,  gained  great  honour 
by  his  valour  that  day."  l  For  the  services  rendered 
by  De  Ruvigny  on  this  occasion,  William  raised  him 
to  the  Irish  peerage,  under  the  title  of  Earl  of  Galway, 

In  1693,  Lord  Galway  joined  William  in  Flanders, 
and  was  with  him  in  the  battle  of  Ne'erwinden,  where 
the  combined  Dutch  and  English  army  was  defeated 
by  Marshal  Luxemburg.  The  Huguenot  leader  fought 
with  conspicuous  bravery  at  the  head  of  his  cavalry, 
and  succeeded  in  covering  William's  retreat.  He  was 
shortly  after  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant- 
general. 

The  war  with  France  was  now  raging  all  round  her 
borders, — along  the  Flemish  and  the  German  frontiers, 
and  as  far  south  as  the  country  of  the  Italian  Vaudois. 
The  Vaudois  were  among  the  most  ancient  Protestant 
people  in  Europe ;  and  Louis  XIV.,  not  satisfied  with 
exterminating  Protestantism  in  his  own  dominions, 


Meinoires  Inedits  de  Ditmont  de  Bflstaqiict.  p.  303. 


CHAP.  xin.  WAR  IN  SAVOY.  229 

sought  to  carry  the  crusade  against  it  beyond  his  own 
frontiers  into  the  territories  of  his  neighbours.  He  ac- 
cordingly sent  a  missive  to  the  young  Duke  of  Savoy, 
requiring  him  to  extirpate  the  Vaudois,  unless  they 
conformed  to  the  Roman  Catholic  religion.  The  duke 
refused  to  obey  the  French  king's  behest,  and  besought 
the  heir  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany  and  the  Protestant 
princes  of  the  north,  to  enable  him  to  resist  the  armies 
of  Louis.  The  Elector  of  Brandenburg  having  applied 
to  William  III.  for  one  of  his  generals,  Charles,  Duke 
of  Schomberg,  whose  father  fell  at  the  Boyne,  was  at 
once  despatched  to  the  aid  of  the  Savoy  prince,  with 
an  army  consisting  for  the  most  part  of  Huguenot 
refugees.  William  also  undertook  to  supply  a  subsidy 
of  £100,000  a  year,  as  the  joint  contribution  of  Eng- 
land and  Holland  to  the  cause  of  Protestantism  in 
Piedmont. 

On  Schomberg's  arrival  at  Turin,  he  found  the 
country  in  a  state  of  great  consternation,  the  French 
army  under  Catinat  having  overrun  it  in  various 
directions.  With  Schomberg's  vigorous  help,  the  pro- 
gress of  the  French  army  was  for  a  time  checked ; 
but  unfortunately  Schomberg  allowed  himself  to  be 
drawn  into  a  pitched  battle  on  the  plains  of  Marsiglia 
in  October,  1693,  when  his  army  suffered  a  complete 
defeat.  At  the  same  time  the  general  received  a 
mortal  wound,  of  which  he  died  a  few  days  after  the 
battle. 

On  this  untoward  result  of  the  campaign  becoming 
known  in  England,  the  Earl  of  Galway  was  despatched 
into  Savoy  to  take  the  command ;  as  well  as  to  repre- 
sent England  and  Holland  as  ambassador  at  the  court 
of  Turin.  To  his  dismay,  the  Earl  discovered  that  the 
Duke  of  Savoy  was  then  engaged  in  a  secret  treaty 
with  the  French  Government  for  peace ;  on  which  he 
at  once  withdrew  with  his  contingent — the  only  object 
he  had  been  able  to  accomplish,  being  to  secure  a 
certain  degree  of  liberty  of  worship  for  the  persecuted 
Vaudois. 


230          RUVIGNY  AND  PC R'l ARLINGTON.        CHAP.  xin. 

On  his  return  to  England,  the  Earl  was  appointed 
one  of  the  Lords-Justices  of  Ireland;  and  during  the 
time  that  he  held  that  office,  he  devoted  himself  to 
the  establishment  of  the  linen  trade,  the  improvement 
of  agriculture,  and  the  reparation  of  the  losses  and 
devastations  from  which  the  country  had  suffered 
during  the  civil  wars. 

In  the  meantime,  Louis  XIV.,  with  that  meanness 
of  character  that  distinguished  him  in  all  his  dealings 
with  the  Huguenots,  when  he  heard  of  Ruvigny's 
services  to  William  III.,  ordered  the  immediate  confis- 
cation of  all  his  property  in  France.  To  compensate 
Ruvigny  for  this  heavy  loss,  William  conferred  upon 
him  the  confiscated  estate  of  Portarlington ;  when  he 
at  once  proceeded  to  found  a  Huguenot  colony  at  that 
place.  By  his  influence  he  induced  a  large  number 
of  the  best  class  of  the  refugees — principally  exiled 
officers  and  gentry,  with  their  families — to  settle  there; 
and  he  liberally  assisted  them  out  of  his  private 
means  in  promoting  the  industry  and  prosperity  of 
the  town  and  neighbourhood.  He  erected  more  than 
a  hundred  new  dwellings  of  a  superior  kind,  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  settlers.  He  built  and  endowed 
two  churches  for  their  use — one  French,  the  other 
English, — as  well  as  two  excellent  schools  for  the 
education  of  their  children.  Thus  the  little  town 
of  Portarlington  shortly  became  a  centre  of  polite 
learning,  from  which  emanated  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  men  in  Ireland ;  while  the  gentle  and 
industrious  life  of  the  colonists  exhibited  an  example 
of  patient  labour,  neatness,  thrift,  and  orderliness, 
which  exercised  a  considerable  influence  on  the  sur- 
rounding population. 

Lord  Galway  was  not,  however,  permitted  to  enjoy 
the  grant  which  William  III.  had  made  to  him,  of  the 
Portarlington  estate.  The  appropriation  was  violently 
attacked  in  the  English  Parliament;  and  a  bill  was 
passed  annulling  that  and  all  grants  of  a  like  kind 
which  had  been  made  by  the  King.  The  estate  was 


CHAP.  XIII. 


TIIK  HUGUENOTS  REGIMENTS. 


231 


accordingly  taken  from  Lord  Galway,  and  sold  by 
the  Government  Commissioners  to  the  London  Hollow 
Sword-Blade  Company.  The  Earl's  career  as  an  Irish 
landlord  was  thus  brought  to  an  end ;  and  Ruvigny, 
like  many  of  his  fellow-exiles,  was  again  left  landless. 
During  the  time,  however,  that  the  Portarlington 
estate  was  in  his  possession,  he  granted  to  some  of 
the  Huguenot  exiles  leases  for  lives,  renewable  for 
ever.  These  leases  were  not  interfered  with,  and  they 
still  continue  in  force. 

While  the  English  Parliament  displayed  this  jealousy 
of  the  foreign  officers  by  whom  William  III.  had  been 
so  faithfully  served,  and  who  contributed  so  materially 
to  the  success  of  the  Revolution  of  1688,  they  enter- 
tained an  equal  jealousy  of  the  Huguenot  regiments 
which  still  remained  in  the  service  of  the  Kino-.  Fre- 

O 

quent  motions  were  made  in  the  House  of  Commons 
for  their  disembodiment ;  and  on  the  loth  of  Septem- 
ber, 1698,  on  the  motion  for  going  into  a  committee 
of  supply,  the  amendment  was  proposed  :  "  That  an 
address  be  presented  to  the  Lords- Justices  to  intercede 
with  His  Majesty  that  the  five  regiments 1  of  French 
Protestants  should  be  disbanded."  In  the  face  of  the 
war  which  was  impending  in  Europe,  William  could 
not  agree  to  the  measure;  and  the  regiments  continued 
to  be  actively  employed  under  different  designations 
down  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century. 


1  There  were  two  cavalry  regiments,  and  three  infantry,  in  the 
Huguenot  force,  viz.  : — 


Non-Com- 

Companies 

Officers. 

missioned 
Officers. 

Priv»tc» 

TotaL 

Galway's  Horse   .    . 

9 

113 

85 

531 

729 

Miremont's  Dragoons 

8 

74 

104 

480 

658 

Marlon's  Foot  .    .    . 

13 

83 

104 

780 

967 

La  Meloniere's  do.  . 

13 

83 

104 

780 

967 

Belcastel's  do.  .    .   . 

L3 

83 

104 

780 

967 

436 

501 

3351 

4288 

232  EARL    OF  GALWAY  IN  SPAIN.        CHAP.  xm. 

Nothing  could  shake  the  King's  attachment  to  Lord 
Galway,  or  Lord  Galway's  to  him.  Being  unable, 
as  King  of  England,  to  reward  his  faithful  follower, 
William  appointed  him  general  in  the  Dutch  army, 
and  colonel  of  the  Dutch  regiment  of  foot-guards 
(blue).  In  1701,  Evelyn  thus  records  in  his  diary  a 
visit  made  to  the  distinguished  refugee  on  his  arrival 
in  London  from  Ireland  : — "June  22. — I  went  to 
congratulate  the  arrival  of  that  worthy  and  excellent 
person,  my  Lord  Galway,  newly  come  out  of  Ireland, 
where  he  had  behaved  himself  so  honestly  and  to  the 
exceeding  satisfaction  of  the  people ;  but  he  was  re- 
moved thence  for  being  a  Frenchman,  though  they 
had  not  a  more  worthy,  valiant,  discreet,  and  trusty 
person  on  whom  they  could  have  relied  for  conduct 
and  fitness.  He  was  one  who  had  deeply  suffered, 
as  well  as  the  Marquis  his  father,  for  being  Pro- 
testants." 

From  this  time,  Lord  Galway  was  principally  em- 
ployed abroad  on  diplomatic  missions,  and  in  the  field. 
The  war  against  France  was  now  in  progress  on  the 
side  of  Spain,  where  the  third  Duke  of  Schomberg, 
Count  Me'nard, — who  led  the  attack  in  the  battle  of  the 
Boyne, — was,  in  1704,  placed  in  command  of  the  British 
troops,  then  fighting  against  the  Bourbon  Philip  V.,  in 
conjunction  with  a  Portuguese  force.  Philip  was 
supported  by  a  French  army  under  command  of  the 
Duke  of  Berwick,  the  natural  son  of  the  dethroned 
James  II.  The  campaign  having  languished  under 
Schomberg,  and  the  government  at  home  becoming 
dissatisfied  with  his  conduct,  the  Earl  of  Galway  was 
sent  out  to  Portugal  to  take  the  command. 

The  battles  which  followed  were  mostly  fought  over 
the  ground  since  made  so  famous  by  the  victories  of 
Wellington.  There  was  the  relief  of  Gibraltar,  the 
storming  of  Alcantara,  the  siege  of  Badajos — in  which 
the  Earl  of  Galway  lost  an  arm — the  capture  of 
Ciudad  Rodrigo,  and  the  advance  upon  Madrid.  Then 
followed  the  defection  of  the  Portuguese,  and  a  sue- 


CHAP.  xin.      BRA  VERT  OF  UUGUENOT  OFFICERS.      233 


cession  of  disasters :  the  last  of  which  was  the  battle 
of  Almanza,  where  the  British,  ill-supported  by  their 
Portuguese  allies,  were  defeated  by  the  French  army 
under  the  Duke  of  Berwick.  Shortly  afterwards,  the 
British  forces  returned  home,  and  the  Earl  of  Galway 
resided  for  the  rest  of  his  life  mostly  at  Rookley,  near 
Southampton,  taking  a  kindly  interest  to  the  last  in 
the  relief  of  his  countrymen  suffering  for  conscience' 
sake.1 

When  the  refugees  first  entered  the  service  of 
the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  doubts  were  expressed 
whether  they  would  fight  against  their  fellow-country- 
men. When  they  went  into  action  at  Neuss,  one 
of  the  Prussian  generals  exclaimed,  "We  shall  have 
these  knaves  fighting  against  us  presently."  But  all 
doubts  were  dispelled  by  the  conduct  of  the  Hugue- 
not musketeers,  who  rushed  eagerly  upon  the  French 
troops,  and  by  the  fuiy  of  their  attack  carried  every- 
thing before  them.  It  was  the  same  at  the  siege  of 
Bonn,  where  a  hundred  refugee  officers,  three  hundred 
Huguenot  cadets,  with  detachments  of  musketeers 
and  horse  grenadiers,  demanded  to  be  led  to  the 
assault  ;  and  on  the  signal  being  given,  they  rushed 
forward  with  extraordinary  gallantry.  "  The  officers," 
says  Ancillon,  "  gave  proof  that  they  preferred  rather 
to  rot  in  the  earth  after  an  honourable  death,  than 
that  the  earth  should  nourish  them  in  idleness  whilst 
their  soldiers  were  in  the  heat  of  the  fight."  The 
outer  works  were  carried,  and  the  place  was  taken. 


1  It  was  when  on  a  visit   at  Russell  was  his  nearest  surviving 

Stratton    House,  that  the  good  relative,  and  became  his  heiress 

Earl  of  Galway  was  summoned  at  the  age  of  eighty-four.     The 

to  his  rest.     He  probably  sank  property  of  Stratton  has  passed 

under    the    "  bodily  pains "    to  out  of  Russell  hands ;  and  Lord 

which  he  was  so  long  subject —  Galway 's  gravestone  [in  Michel- 

namely,  gout    and  rheumatism.  dever  churchyard,  where  he  was 

His  mind  was  entire  to  the  last.  buried"!,   cannot  now  be  recog- 

He  died  on  the  3rd  of  September,  nised.— AGNEW— Protexta nt  JEx- 

1720,  aged  seventy-two.     He  was  iles  from  France  in  tJie  reign  of 

the   last    of   his   family.     Lady  Louis  XI  V.}  p.  149. 


234  JEAN  CAVALIER.  CHAP.  xiu. 

But  nowhere  did  the  Huguenots  display  such  a  fury 
of  resentment  against  the  troops  of  Louis  as  at  the 
battle  of  Almanza,  above  referred  to,  where  they  were 
led  by  Cavalier,  the  famous  Camisard  chief. 

Jean  Cavalier  was  the  son  of  a  peasant,  of  the 
village  of  Ribaute,  near  Anduze,  in  Languedoc.  Being 
an  ardent  Protestant,  he  took  refuge  from  the  persecu- 
tions in  Geneva  and  Lausanne,  where  he  worked  for 
some  time  as  a  journeyman  baker.  But  his  love  for 
his  native  land  drew  him  back  to  Languedoc  ;  and  he 
"happened  to  visit  it  in  1702,  at  the  time  when  the 
Abbe  du  Chayla  was  engaged  in  directing  the  extir- 
pation of  the  Protestant  peasantry  in  the  Cevennes. 
These  poor  people  continued,  in  defiance  of  the  law, 
to  hold  religious  meetings  in  the  woods,  and  caves, 
and  fields  ;  in  consequence  of  which  they  were 
tracked,  pursued,  sabred,  hanged,  or  sent  to  the  galleys, 
wherever  found. 

The  peasants  at  length  revolted.  From  forty  to  fifty 
of  the  most  determined  among  them  assembled  at  the 
Abbs'  du  Chayla's  house  at  Pont-de-Montvert,  and 
proceeded  to  break  open  the  dungeon  in  which  he  had 
penned  up  a  band  of  prisoners,  amongst  whom  were 
two  ladies  of  rank.  The  Abbd  ordered  his  servants  to 
repel  the  assailants  with  firearms;  nevertheless  they 
succeeded  in  effecting  an  entrance,  and  stabbed  the 
priest  to  death.  Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  war 
of  the  Blouses,  or  Camisards.  The  Camisards  were 
only  poor  peasants,  driven  to  desperation  by  cruelty, 
without  any  knowledge  of  war,  and  without  any  arms 
except  such  as  they  wrested  from  the  hands  of  their 
enemies.  Yet  they  maintained  a  gallant  struggle 
against  the  united  French  armies  for  a  period  of  nearly 
five  years. 

On  the  outbreak  of  the  revolt,  Jean  Cavalier  assem- 
bled a  company  of  volunteers  to  assist  the  Cevennes 
peasantry ;  and  before  long  he  became  their  recog- 
nised leader.  Though  the  insurrection  spread  over 
Languedoc,  their  entire  numbers  did  not  exceed  10,000 


CHAP.  XIII.  WAI?-    OF  THE   CAM JS ADDS.  235 

men.  But  they  had  the  advantage  of  fighting  in  a 
mountain  country,  every  foot  of  which  was  familiar 
to  them.  They  carried  on  the  war  by  surprises, 
clothing  and  arming  themselves  with  the  spoils  they 
took  from  the  royal  troops.  They  supplied  them- 
selves with  balls  made  from  the  church-bells.  They 
had  no  money,  and  needed  none ;  the  peasantry  and 
herdsmen  of  the  country  supplying  them  with  food. 
When  they  were  attacked,  they  received  the  first  fire 
of  the  soldiers  on  one  knee,  singing  the  sixty-eighth 
psalm :  "  Let  God  arise,  let  his  enemies  be  scattered." 
Then  they  rose,  precipitated  themselves  on  the  enemy, 
and  fought  with  all  the  fury  of  despair.  If  they  suc- 
ceeded in  their  onslaughts,  and  the  soldiers  fled,  they 
then  held  assemblies,  which  were  attended  by  the 
Huguenots  of  the  adjoining  country ;  and  when  they 
failed,  they  fled  into  the  hills,  in  the  caverns  of  which 
were  their  magazines  and  hospitals. 

Great  devastation  and  bloodshed  marked  the  w,ar 
carried  on  against  the  Camisards.  No  mercy  was 
shown  either  to  the  peasantry  taken  in  arms,  or  to 
those  who  in  any  way  assisted  them.  Whole  villages 
were  destroyed.  The  order  was  issued  that  wherever 
a  soldier  or  a  priest  perished,  the  village  should  im- 
mediately be  burnt  down.  The  punishment  of  the 
stake  was  revived.  Gibbets  were  erected  arid  kept  at 
work  all  over  Languedoc.  Still  the  insurrection  was 
not  suppressed;  and  the  peasantry  continued  to  hold 
their  religious  meetings  wherever  they  could. 

One  day,  on  the  1st  of  April,  1703,  the  intelligence 
was  brought  to  Marshal  Montrevil,  in  command  of  the 
royal  troops,  that  some  three  hundred  persons  had 
assembled  for  worship  in  a  mill  near  Nisrnes.  He  at 
once  hastened  to  the  place  with  a  strong  force  of 
soldiers,  ordered  the  doors  to  be  burst  open,  and  the 
worshippers  slaughtered  on  the  spot.  The  slowness 
with  which  the  butchery  was  carried  on  provoked  the 
marshal's  indignation,  and  he  ordered  the  mill  to  be 
fired.  All  who  had  not  been  murdered  were  burnt, — 


236      MARSHAL    VILLARS  AND    CAVALIER.    CHAP,  xin 

all,  excepting  one  solitary  girl,  who  was  saved  through 
the  humanity  of  the  marshal's  lacquey ;  but  she  was 
hanged  next  day,  and  the  lacquey  who  had  saved  her 
narrowly  escaped  the  same  fate. 

Even  this  monstrous  cruelty  did  not  crush  the  in- 
surrection. The  Camisards  were  from  time  to  time 
reinforced  by  burnt-out  peasants  ;  and,  led  by  Cavalier 
and  his  coadjutor  Roland,  they  beat  the  detachments 
of  Montrevil  on  every  side — at  Nayes,  at  the  rocks 
at  Aubias,  at  Martignargues,  and  at  the  bridge  of 
Salindres.  Louis  XIV.  was  disgusted  at  the  idea  of 
a  marshal  of  France,  supported  by  a  royal  army 
thoroughly  appointed,  being  set  at  defiance  by  a  mise- 
rable horde  of  Protestant  peasants ;  and  he  ordered 
the  recall  of  Montrevil.  Marshal  Villars  was  then  sent 
to  take  the  command. 

The  new  marshal  was  an  honourable  man,  and  not 
a  butcher.  He  shuddered  at  the  idea  of  employing 
means  such  as  his  predecessor  had  employed,  to  reduce 
the  King's  subjects  to  obedience ;  and  one  of  the  first 
things  he  did  was  to  invite  Cavalier  to  negotiate.  The 
quondam  baker's  boy  of  Geneva  agreed  to  meet  the 
potent  marshal  of  France,  and  listen  to  his  proposals. 
Villars  thus  described  him  in  his  letter  to  the  minis- 
ter of  war :  "  He  is  a  peasant  of  the  lowest  rank,  not 
yet  twenty-two  years  of  age,  and  scarcely  seeming 
eighteen  ;  small,  and  with  no  imposing  mien,  but  pos- 
sessing a  firmness  and  good  sense  that  are  altogether 
surprising.  He  has  great  talent  in  arranging  for  the 
subsistence  of  his  men,  and  disposes  his  troops  as 
well  as  the  best  trained  officers  could  do.  From  the 
moment  Cavalier  began  to  treat,  up  to  the  conclusion 
of  the  affair,  he  has  always  acted  in  good  faith/' * 

In  the  negotiations  which  ensued,  Cavalier  stipu- 
lated for  liberty  of  conscience  and  freedom  of  worship, 


1  The   war  against  the  Cami-       France,  after  tJie  Revocation  of 
sards  is  treated  at  much  greater      tlie  Edict  of  Nantes. 
length    in    The    HuQuenots   in 


CHAP.  xni.     CA  V ALTER  JOINS  TUE  ENGLISH  ARMY.    237 

to  which,  it  is  said,  Villars  assented,  though  the  Roman 
Catholics  subsequently  denied  this.  The  result,  how- 
ever, was  that  Cavalier  capitulated,  accepted  a  colonel's 
commission,  and  went  to  Versailles  to  meet  Louis  XIV.; 
his  fellow-leader,  Roland,  refusing  the  terms  of  capitu- 
lation, and  determining  to  continue  the  struggle.  At 
Paris,  the  mob,  eager  to  behold  the  Cevennol  rebel, 
thi'onged  the  streets  he  rode  through,  and  his  reception 
was  tantamount  to  a  triumph.  At  Versailles  Louis 
exhorted  him  in  vain  to  be  converted,  Cavalier  even 
daring  in  his  presence  to  justify  the  revolt  in  the 
Cevennes.  He  was  offered  the  rank  of  major-general 
in  the  French  army,  and  a  pension  of  1500  livres  for 
his  father;  but  he  refused,  and  was  dismissed  from 
court  as  "  an  obstinate  Huguenot." 

Though  treated  with  apparent  kindness,  Cavalier 
felt  that  he  was  under  constant  surveillance ;  and  he 
seized  the  earliest  opportunity  of  flying  from  France 
and  taking  refuge  in  Switzerland.  From  thence  he 
passed  into  Holland,  and  entered  the  service  of  Wil- 
liam of  Orange,  who  gave  him  the  rank  of  colonel. 
The  Blouses,  or  Camisards,  who  had  fled  from  the 
Cevennes  in  large  numbers,  flocked  to  his  standard, 
and  his  regiment  was  soon  full.  But  a  serious  diffi- 
culty occurred.  Cavalier  insisted  on  selecting  his  own 
officers,  while  the  royal  commissioners  required  that 
the  companies  should  be  commanded  by  refugee  gen- 
tlemen. The  matter  was  compromised  by  Cavalier 
selecting  half  his  officers,  and  the  commissioners  ap- 
pointing the  other  half, — Cavalier  selecting  only  such 
as  had  thoroughly  proved  their  valour  in  the  battles 
of  the  Cevennes.  The  regiment,  when  complete,  pro- 
ceeded to  England,  and  was  despatched  to  Spain  with 
other  reinforcements  towards  the  end  of  1706. 

Almost  the  only  battle  in  which  Cavalier  and  his 
Huguenots  took  part,  was  at  the  field  of  Almanza, 
where  they  distinguished  themselves  in  a  remarkable 
manner.  Cavalier  found  himself  opposed  to  one  of 
the  French  regiments,  in  whom  he  recognised  his 


238   PliOMOTION  AND  DEATH  OF  CAVALIER.  CHAP.  xm. 

former  persecutors  in  the  Cevennes.  The  soldiers  on 
both  sides,  animated  by  a  common  fury,  rushed  upon 
each  other  with  the  bayonet,  disdaining  to  fire.  The 
carnage  which  followed  was  dreadful.  The  Papist 
regiment  was  almost  annihilated,  whilst  of  Cavalier's 
regiment,  700  strong,  not  more  than  300  survived. 
Marshal  Berwick,  though  familiar  with  fierce  encoun- 
ters, never  spoke  of  this  tragical  event  without  deep 
emotion.  Cavalier  himself  was  severely  wounded,  and 
lay  for  some  time  among  the  slain.  He  afterwards 
escaped  through  the  assistance  of  an  English  officer. 
His  lieutenant-colonel,  five  captains,  six  lieutenants, 
and  five  ensigns  were  killed,  and  most  of  the  other 
officers  were  wounded  or  taken  prisoners. 

Cavalier  returned  to  England,  where  he  retired 
upon  a  small  pension,  which  barely  supported  him.1 
He  entreated  to  be  employed  in  active  service;  but 
it  was  not  until  after  the  lapse  of  many  years  that 
his  application  was  successful.  He  was  eventually 
appointed  governor  of  Jersey,  and  held  that  office  for 
some  time ;  after  which  he  was  made  brigadier  in  1735, 
and  further  promoted  to  be  major-general  in  1739.  He 
died  at  Chelsea  in  the  following  year ;  and  his  remains 
were  conveyed  to  Dublin  for  interment  in  the  French 
refugee  cemetery. 

Another  illustrious  name  amongst  the  Huguenot  re- 
fugees is  that  of  Paul  de  Rapin-Thoyras, — better  known 
as  the  historian  of  England  than  as  a  soldier, — though 
he  bore  arms  with  the  English  in  many  a  hard-fought 
field.  He  belonged  to  a  French  noble  family,  and  was 
lord  of  Thoyras,  near  Castres.  The  persecution  drove 
him  and  his  family  into  England ;  but  finding  nothing 
to  do  there,  he  went  over  to  Holland  and  joined  the 
army  of  William  as  a  cadet.  He  accompanied  the 


1  While  lie  resided  in  London,  memoirs  of  his  early  adventures, 

Cavalier  employed  part  of  his  which  were  published  under  the 

leisure  in  dictating  to  another  title  of  Memoirs  of  the  Wars  of 

refugee,    Galli    of    Nismes,    the  the  Cevennes :  London,  1726. 


CHAP.  xin.  RAPIX,    THE  HISTORIAN.  239 

expedition  to  Torbay,  and  took  part  in  the  transac- 
tions which  followed.  Rapin  was  afterwards  sent 
into  Ireland  with  his  regiment;  and,  distinguishing 
himself  by  his  gallantry  at  the  siege  of  Carrickfergus, 
he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant.  He  after- 
wards fought  at  the  Boyne,  and  was  wounded  at  the 
assault  of  Limerick.  At  Athlone  he  was  one  of  the 
first  to  enter  the  place  at  the  head  of  the  assailing 
force.  He  was  there  promoted  to  a  company;  and  he 
remained  at  Athlone  doing  garrison  duty  for  about 
two  years.  His  intelligence  and  high  culture  being 
well  known,  Rapin  was  selected  by  the  King,  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  Earl  of  Galway,  as  tutor  to 
the  Earl  of  Portland's  eldest  son,  Viscount  Woodstock. 
He  accordingly  took  leave  of  the  anny  with  regret, 
making  over  his  company  to  his  brother,  who  after- 
wards attained  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel. 

From  this  time,  Rapin  lived  principally  abroad, 
in  company  with  his  pupil.  Whilst  residing  at  the 
Hague,  he  resumed  his  favourite  study  of  history  and 
jurisprudence,  which  had  been  interrupted  by  his 
flight  from  France  at  the  Revocation.  After  com- 
pleting Lord  Woodstock's  education,  Rapin  settled 
at  Wesel,  where  a  number  of  retired  refugee  officers 
resided  and  formed  a  very  agreeable  society.  There 
he  wrote  his  Dissertation  on  Whigs  and  Torie,  and 
his  well-known  History  of  England,  founded  on 
Rhymer's  Fcedera,  the  result  of  much  labour  and 
research,  and  long  regarded  as  a  standard  work. 
Rapin  died  in  1725,  at  the  age  of  sixty-four,  almost 
pen  in  hand,  worn  out  by  hard  study  and  sedentary 
confinement. 

Among  the  many  able  Huguenot  officers  in  William's 
service,  John  de  Bodt  was  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished. He  had  fled  from  France  when  only  in  his 
fifteenth  year,  and  shortly  after  joined  the  Dutch 
artillery.  He  accompanied  William  to  England,  and 
was  made  captain  in  1690.  He  fought  at  the  Boyne 
and  at  Anghrim,  and  eventually  rose  to  the  command  ot 


240  THE  LIGONILRS.  CHAP.  xin. 


the  Huguenot  corps  of  Engineers.  In  that  capacity  he 
served  at  the  battles  of  Steinkirk  and  Ne'erwinden, 
and  at  the  siege  of  Namur  he  directed  the  operations 
which  ended  in  the  surrender  of  the  castle  to  the  allied 
army.  The  fort  into  which  Boufflers  had  thrown  him- 
self was  assaulted  and  captured  a  few  days  later  by  La 
Cave  at  the  head  of  2000  volunteers ;  and  William  III. 
generously  acknowledged  that  it  was  mainly  to  the 
brave  refugees  that  he  owed  the  capture  of  that  impor- 
tant fortress. 

All  through  the  wars  in  the  Low  Countries,  under 
William  III.,  Eugene,  and  the  Duke  of  Marlborough, 
the  refugees  bore  themselves  bravely.  Wherever  the 
fighting  was  hardest,  they  were  there.  Henry  de 
Chesnoi  led  the  assault  which  gave  Landau  to  the 
allies.  At  the  battles  of  Hochstedt,  Oudenarde,  and 
Malplacquet,  and  at  the  siege  of  Mons,  they  were 
conspicuous  for  their  valour.  Le  Roche,  the  Huguenot 
engineer,  conducted  the  operations  at  Lisle, — "  doing 
more  execution,"  says  Luttrell,  "  in  three  days  than 
De  Meer,  the  German,  in  six  weeks." 

The  refugee  Ligoniers  served  with  peculiar  distinc- 
tion in  the  British  army.  The  most  eminent  was  Jean 
Louis,  afterwards  Field  Marshal  Earl  Ligonier.  who 
had  fled  from  France  into  England  in  1697.  He  ac- 
companied the  army  to  Flanders  as  a  volunteer  in 
1702,  where  his  extraordinary  bravery  at  the  storming 
of  Liege  attracted  the  attention  of  Marlborough.  At 
Blenheim,  where  he  next  fought,  he  was  the  only 
captain  of  his  regiment  who  survived.  At  Menin  he 
led  the  grenadiers  who  stormed  the  counterscarp.  He 
fought  at  Malplacquet,  where  he  was  major  of  brigade, 
and  in  all  Marlborough's  great  battles.  At  Dettingen, 
as  lieutenant-general,  he  earned  still  higher  distinction. 
At  Fontenoy  the  chief  honour  was  due  to  him  for  the 
intrepidity  and  skill  with  which  he  led  the  British 
infantry.  In  1746  he  was  placed  in  command  of  the 
British  forces  in  Flanders,  but  was  taken  prisoner  at 
the  battle  of  Lawfield.  Restored  to  England,  he  was 


CHAP.  xin.  THE  HUGUENOT  SAILORS.  241 

appointed  commander- in-chief  and  colonel  of  the  First 
Foot  Guards ;  and  in  1770  the  Huguenot  hero  died  full 
of  honours  at  the  ripe  age  of  ninety-two. 

Of  the  thousands  of  Protestant  sailors  who  left 
France  at  the  Revocation,  many  settled  in  the  ports 
along  the  south  and  south-east  coast  of  England ;  but 
the  greater  number  entered  the  Dutch  fleet,  while  some 
of  them  took  service,  in  the  navy  of  the  Elector  of  Bran- 
denburg. Louis  XIV.  took  the  same  steps  to  enforce 
conversion  upon  his  sailors,  that  he  adopted  to  convert 
the  other  classes  of  his  subjects.  So  soon,  however,  as 
the  sailors  arrived  in  foreign  ports,  they  usually  took 
the  opportunity  of  deserting  their  ships  and  reasserting 
their  liberty.  In  1686,  three  French  vessels  which  had 
put  into  Dutch  ports  were  entirely  deserted  by  their 
crews;  and  in  the  same  year  more  than  800  experi- 
enced mariners,  trained  under  Duquesne,  entered  the 
navy  of  the  United  Provinces.  When  William  sailed 
for  England  in  1688,  the  island  of  Zealand  alone  sent 
him  150  excellent  French  sailors,  who  were  placed,  as 
picked  men,  on  board  the  admiral  and  vice-admiral's 
ships.  Like  their  Huguenot  fellow-countrymen  on 
land,  the  Huguenot  sailors  fought  valiantly  at  sea 
under  the  flag  of  their  adopted  country ;  and  they 
emulated  the  bravery  of  the  English  at  the  great  naval 
battle  of  La  Hogue,  which  occurred  a  few  years  later. 

Many  descendants  of  the  refugees  subsequently  at- 
tained high  rank  in  the  naval  service,  and  acquired 
distinction  by  their  valour  on  that  element  which 
England  has  been  accustomed  to  regard  as  peculiarly 
her  own.  Amongst  them  may  be  mentioned  "the 
gallant,  good  Riou,"  who  was  killed  while  commanding 
the  Amazon  frigate  at  Copenhagen  in  1801,  and  the 
Gambiers,  descended  from  a  refugee  family  long  set- 
tled at  Canterbury,  one  of  whom  rose  to  be  a  vice- 
admiral,  and  another  an  admiral,  the  latter  having  also 
been  raised  to  the  peerage  for  his  distinguished  public 
services. 

16 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

HUGUENOT   MEN    OF   SCIENCE   AND   LEARNING. 

OF  the  half- million  of  French  subjects  who  were  driven 
into  exile  by  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
more  than  120,000  are  believed  to  have  taken  refuge 
in  England.  The  refugees  were  men  of  all  i*anks  and 
conditions, — landed  gentry,  ministers  of  religion,  sol- 
diers and  sailors,  professional  men,  merchants,  students, 
mechanics,  artizans,  and  labourers.  The  greater  num- 
ber were  Calvinists,  and  continued  such  ;  others  were 
Lutherans,  who  conformed  to  the  English  Church  ;  but 
many  were  Protestants  merely  in  name,  principally 
because  they  belonged  to  families  of  that  persuasion. 
But  however  lightly  their  family  religion  might  sit 
upon  them,  these  last  offered  as  strenuous  a  resistance 
as  the  most  extreme  Calvinists  to  being  dragooned 
into  popery.  This  was  especially  the  case  with  men 
of  science,  professional  men,  and  students  of  law  and 
medicine.  Hence  the  large  proportion  of  physicians 
and  surgeons  to  be  found  in  the  ranks  of  the  refu- 
gees. 

It  was  not  merely  free  religious  thought  that  Louis 
XIV.  sought  to  stifle  in  France,  but  free  thought  of  all 
kinds.  The  blow  struck  by  him  at  the  conscience  of 
France,  struck  also  at  its  mind.  Individualism  was 
crushed  wherever  it  asserted  itself.  An  entire  abnega- 
tion of  the  will  was  demanded.  Men  must  abjure  their 
faith,  and  believe  as  they  were  ordered.  They  must 
become  part  of  a  stereotyped  system — profess  adher- 
ence to  a  Church  to  whioh  they  were  indifferent,  if 


CHAP.  xiv.    INTELLECTUAL   TYRANNY  RESISTED.       243 

they  did  not  actually  detest  it — pretend  to  believe 
what  they  really  did  not  believe, — and  in  many  cases 
deny  their  most  deeply-rooted  convictions. 

To  indolent  minds  such  a  system  would  no  doubt 
save  an  infinity  of  trouble.  Only  induce  men  to  give 
up  their  individuality, — to  renounce  the  exercise  of 
their  judgment — to  cease  to  think — and  to  entertain 
the  idea  that  a  certain  set  of  men,  and  no  other,  hold  in 
their  hands  the  keys  of  heaven  and  hell, — and  conformity 
becomes  easy.  But  many  of  the  French  King's  sub- 
jects were  of  another  temperament.  They  would  think 
for  themselves  in  matters  of  science  as  well  as  religion ; 
and  the  vigorous,  the  independent,  and  the  self-reliant 
—  Protestant  as  well  as  non- Protestant  —  revolted 
against  the  intellectual  tyranny  which  Louis  attempted 
to  establish  amongst  them,  and  fled  for  liberty  of 
thought  and  worship  into  other  lands' 

We  have  already  referred  to  such  men  as  Huyghens 
and  Bayle,  who  took  refuge  in  Holland,  where  they 
found  the  freedom  denied  them  in  their  own  country. 
These  men  were  not  Protestants  so  much  as  philoso- 
phers. But  they  could  not  be  hypocrites,  and  they 
would  not  conform.  Hence  their  flight  from  France. 
Others  of  like  stamp  took  refuge  in  England.  Amongst 
the  latter  were  some  of  the  earliest  speculators  as  to 
that  wonderful  motive  power  which  eventually  be- 
came embodied  in  the  working  steam-engine  One  of 
these  fugitives  was  Solomon  de  Caus,  a  native  of  Caux 
in  Normandy.  He  was  a  man  of  encyclopaedic  know- 
ledge; he  had  studied  architecture  in  Italy;  he  was 
an  engineer,  a  mechanic,  and  a  natural  philosopher. 
Moreover,  he  was  a  Huguenot,  which  was  fatal  to  his 
existence  in  France  as  a  free  man,  and  he  took  refuge 
in  England,  There  he  was  employed  about  the  court 
for  a  time,  and  amongst  other  works  he  designed  and 
erected  hydraulic  works  for  the  palace  gardens  at 
Richmond.  Shortly  after  he  accompanied  the  Princess 
Elizabeth  to  Heidelberg,  in  Germany,  on  her  marriage 
to  the  Elector  Palatine,  and  there  he  published  several 


244  DR.   DENIS  PAPIN.  CHAP.  xiv. 

works  descriptive  of  the  progress  he  had  made  in  his 
inquiries  as  to  the  marvellous  powers  of  steam. 

But  still  more  distinguished  among  the  Huguenot 
refugees  was  Dr.  Denis  Papin,  one  of  the  early  inven- 
tors of  the  steam-engine,  and  probably  also  the  inven- 
tor of  the  steamboat.1  He  was  born  at  Blois  in  1650, 
and  had  studied  medicine  at  the  University  of  Paris, 
where  he  took  his  degree  as  physician.  He  began 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  in  which  he  met  with 
considerable  success.  Being  attracted  to  the  study 
of  mechanics,  and  having  the  advantage  of  the  in- 
struction of  the  celebrated  Huyghens,  he  made  rapid 
progress,  and  promised  to  become  one  of  the  most 
eminent  scientific  men  of  his  country.  But  Papin  was 
a  Protestant ;  and  when  the  practice  of  medicine  by 
Protestant  physicians  came  to  be  subjected  to  serious 
disabilities, — finding  the  door  to  promotion  or  even  to 
subsistence  closed  against  him  unless  he  abjured, — he 
determined  to  leave  France;  and  in  1681,  the  same  year 
in  which  Huyghens  took  refuge  in  Holland,  Papin 
took  refuge  in  England.  Arrived  in  London,  he  was 
cordially  welcomed  by  men  of  science  there,  and  espe- 
pecially  by  the  Honourable  Robert  Boyle,  under  whose 
auspices  he  was  introduced  to  the  Royal  Society. 

In  1684,  Papin  was  appointed  temporary  curator 
of  the  Royal  Society,  with  a  salary  of  £30  a  year.  It 
formed  part  of  his  duty,  in  connection  with  his  new 
office,  to  produce  an  experiment  at  each  meeting  of  the 
society;  and  this  led  him  to  prosecute  his  inquiries 
into  the  powers  of  steam,  and  ultimately  to  invent 
his  steam-engine.  Papin 's  reputation  having  extended 
abroad,  he  was  invited  to  fill  the  office  of  professor  of 
mathematics  in  the  University  of  Marburg,  which  he 
accepted ;  and  he  left  England  in  the  year  1687.  But 
he  continued  until  his  death,  many  years  later,  to 
maintain  a  friendly  correspondence  with  his  scientific 

1  For  an  account  of  Solomon  torical  Memoir  of  the  Invention 
de  Caus,  as  well  as  of  the  life  and  of  the  Steam-Engine,"  in  Lives  of 
labours  of  Dr.  Papin,  see  "  His-  Bmtlton  and  Watt  pp.  8,  30-8. 


CHAP.  XIV.  DR.   DESAGULIERS.  245 

friends  in  England ;  and  one  of  the  last  things  he  did 
was  to  construct  a  model  steam-engine  fitted  in  a  boat 
— "  une  petite  machine  d'un  vaisseau  a  roues  " — for  the 
purpose  of  sending  it  over  to  England  for  trial  on  the 
Thames.  But,  unhappily  for  Papin,  the  little  vessel 
never  reached  England.  To  his  great  grief,  he  found 
that  when  it  reached  Miinden  on  the  Weser,  it  had 
been  seized  by  the  boatmen  on  the  river  and  barba- 
rously destroyed.  Three  years  later,  the  illustrious 
exile  died,  worn  out  by  work  and  anxiety,  leaving  it 
to  other  inventors  to  realise  the  great  ideas  which  he 
had  conceived  as  to  navigation  by  steam-power. 

Dr.  Desaguliers  was  another  refugee  who  achieved 
considerable  distinction  in  England  as  a  teacher  of 
mechanical  philosophy.  His  father,  Jean  des  Aguliers, 
was  pastor  of  a  Protestant  congregation  at  Aitre',  near 
Rochelle,  from  which  he  fled  about  the  period  of  the 
Revocation.  His  child,  the  future  professor,  is  said 
to  have  been  carried  on  board  the  ship  by  which  he 
escaped,  concealed  in  a  barrel.1  The  pastor  first  took 
refuge  in  Guernsey,  from  whence  he  proceeded  to 
England,  took  orders  in  the  Established  Church,  and 
became  minister  of  the  French  chapel  in  Swallow 
Street,  London.  This  charge  he  subsequently  re- 
signed, and  established  a  school  at  Islington,  at  which 
his  son  received  his  first  education.  From  thence  the 
young  man  proceeded  to  Oxford,  matriculating  at 
Christ  Church,  where  he  obtained  the  degree  of  B.A., 
and  took  deacon's  orders.  Being  drawn  to  the  study 
of  natural  philosophy,  he  shortly  after  delivered  lec- 
tures at  Oxford  on  hydrostatics  and  optics,  to  which 
he  afterwards  added  mechanics. 

His   fame   as   a   lecturer   having  reached   London, 

1  This  statement  is  made  in  the  worth,  one  of  the  successors  ta 

"House  and  Farm  Accounts  of  Gawthorpe,  having  married  Anne, 

the  Shuttleworths  of  Gawthorpe  the  second  daughter  of  General 

Hall." — Chetham Society 'sPapcrs,  Desaguliers   (son  of    the  above 

18i>6-8.    The  Shuttleworths  were  Dr.  Desaguliers),  who  was  one 

related  by  marriage  to  the  Des-  of  the  equerries  of  George  III. 
aguliers  family  ;  Robert  Shuttle- 


246  DESA  G  ULIEIiS  AND  DUE  A  XI).       CHAP.  xiv. 

Desaguliers  was  pressingly  invited  thither;  and  he 
accordingly  removed  to  the  metropolis  in  1713.  His 
lectures  were  much  admired,  and  he  had  so  happy  a 
knack  of  illustrating  them  by  experiments,  that  he 
was  invited  by  the  Royal  Society  to  be  their  demon- 
strator. He  was  afterwards  appointed  curator  of  the 
Society ;  and  in  the  course  of  his  connection  with  it, 
he  communicated  a  vast  number  of  curious  and  valu- 
able papers,  which  were  printed  in  the  Transactions. 
The  Duke  of  Chandos  gave  Desaguliers  the  church 
living  of  Edge  ware ;  and  the  king  (before  whom  he 
gave  lectures  at  Hampton  Court)  presented  him  with 
a  benefice  in  Essex,  besides  appointing  him  chaplain  to 
the  Prince  of  Wales. 

In  1734  Desaguliers  published  his  Course  of  Experi- 
mental Philosophy  in  two  quarto  volumes, — the  best 
book  of  the  kind  that  had  appeared  in  England.  It 
would  appear  from  this  work  that  the  Doctor  also 
designed  and  superintended  the  erection  of  steam- 
engines.  Referring  to  an  improvement  which  he  had 
made  on  Savary's  engine,  he  says:  "According  to  this 
improvement,  I  have  caused  seven  of  these  fire-engines 
to  be  erected  since  the  year  1717  or  1718.  The  first 
was  for  the  late  Czar  Peter  the  Great,  for  his  garden 
at  Petersburg,  where  it  was  set  up."  Dr.  Desaguliers 
died  in  1749,  leaving  behind  him  three  sons,  one  of 
whom,  the  eldest,  published  a  translation  of  the 
Mathematical  Elements  of  Natural  Philosophy,  by 
Gravesande,  who  had  been  a  pupil  of  his  father's ; 
the  second  was  a  beneficed  clergyman  in  Norfolk ;  and 
the  third  was  a  colonel  of  artillery  and  lieutenant 
general  in  the  army,  as  well  as  equerry  to  George  III. 

Among  other  learned  refugees  who  were  elected 
members  of  the  Royal  Society,  were  David  Durand, 
the  editor  of  Pliny's  Natural  History,  The  Philo- 
sophical Writings  of  Cicero,  and  other  classical  works, 
and  the  author  of  a  Histot^y  of  the  Sixteenth  Century, 
as  well  as  of  the  continuation  of  Rapin's  History  of 
England ;  Peter  des  Maiseaux,  the  intimate  friend  of 


CHAP.  XIY.  ABRAHAM  DE  MOIVRE.  247 

St.  Evremonde,  whose  works  he  edited  and  translated 
into  English ;  and  Abraham  de  Moivre,  the  celebrated 
mathematician. 

De  Moivre  was  the  son  of  a  surgeon  at  Vitry  in 
Champagne,  and  received  his  principal  education  at 
the  Protestant  seminary  of  Sedan.  From  the  first 
he  displayed  an  extraordinary  genius  for  arithmetic. 
His  chief  delight  in  his  bye-hours  was  to  shut  himself 
up  with  Le  Gendre's  arithmetic  and  work  out  its  prob- 
lems. This  led  one  of  his  classical  masters  to  ask  on 
one  occasion,  "  What  that  little  rogue  meant  to  do  with 
all  these  cyphers  ?  "  When  the  college  of  Sedan  was 
suppressed  in  1681,  De  Moivre  went  to  Saumur  to  pur- 
sue his  studies  in  philosophy,  from  whence  he  went  to 
Paris  to  prosecute  the  study  of  physics.  By  this  time 
his  father,  being  prohibited  practising  as  a  surgeon 
because  of  his  religion,  left  Vitry  to  join  his  son  at 
Paris ;  but  they  were  not  allowed  to  remain  together. 
The  agents  of  the  government,  acting  on  their  power 
of  separating  children  from  their  parents,  and  subject- 
ing them  to  the  process  of  conversion,  seized  young 
De  Moivre  in  his  nineteenth  year,  and  shut  him  up  in 
the  priory  of  St.  Martin.  There  his  Jesuit  masters 
tried  to  drill  him  into  the  Roman  Catholic  faith ;  but 
the  young  Protestant  was  staunch,  and  refused  to 
be  converted.  Being  pronounced  an  obstinate  heretic, 
he  was  discharged  after  about  two  years'  confine- 
ment, on  which  he  was  ordered  forthwith  to  leave  the 
country. 

De  Moivre  arrived  in  London  with  his  father1  in 
1687,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  and  immediately  bestirred 
himself  to  earn  a  living.  He  had  no  means  but  his 
knowledge  and  his  industry.  He  first  endeavoured  to 
obtain  pupils,  to  instruct  them  in  mathematics  ;  and  he 
also  began,  like  others  of  the  refugees,  to  give  lectures 

1  We  find,  from  the    List  of  Moivre  obtained  letters  of  natu- 

Foreign    Protestants,    published  ralisation  on  the  16th  of  Decem- 

by  the  Camden  Society  (1862),  ber,  1687. 
that    Abraham    and    Daniel    de 


248  NEWTON  AND  DE  MOIVRE.         CHAP.  xiv. 

on  natural  philosophy.  But  his  knowledge  of  English 
was  as  yet  too  imperfect  to  enable  him  to  lecture  with 
success,  and  he  was,  besides,  an  indifferent  manipu- 
lator, so  that  his  lectures  were  shortly  discontinued.  It 
happened  that  the  Principia  of  Newton  was  published 
about  the  time  that  De  Moivre  arrived  in  England. 
The  subject  offering  great  attractions  to  a  mind  such 
as  his,  he  entered  upon  the  study  of  the  book  with 
much  zest,  and  succeeded  before  long  in  mastering  its 
contents,  and  arriving  at  a  clear  understanding  of  the 
views  of  the  author.  Indeed,  so  complete  was  his 
knowledge  of  Newton's  principles,  that  it  is  said,  when 
Sir  Isaac  was  asked  for  explanations  of  his  writings, 
he  would  say :  "  Go  to  De  Moivre ;  he  knows  better 
than  I  do." 

Thus  De  Moivre  acquired  the  friendship  and  respect 
of  Newton,  of  Halley,  and  other  distinguished  scientific 
men  of  the  time ;  and  one  of  the  best  illustrations  of 
the  esteem  in  which  his  intellectual  qualifications  were 
held,  is  afforded  by  the  fact  that  in  the  contention 
which  arose  between  Leibnitz  and  Newton  as  to  their 
respective  priority  in  the  invention  of  the  method  of 
fluxions,  the  Royal  Society  appointed  De  Moivre  to 
report  upon  their  rival  claims. 

De  Moivre  published  many  original  works  on  his 
favourite  subject,  more  particularly  on  analytical  ma- 
thematics. Professor  De  Morgan  has  observed  of  them, 
that  "they  abound  with  consummate  contrivance 
and  skill;  and  one,  at  least,  of  his  investigations 
has  had  the  effect  of  completely  changing  the  whole 
character  of  trigonometrical  science  in  its  higher 
departments." l  One  of  the  works  published  by  him, 
entitled  The  Doctrine  of  Chances,  is  curious,  as  leading, 
in  a  measure,  to  the  development  of  the  science  of  life 
assurance.  Fr.jm  the  first  edition,  it  does  not  appear 
that  De  Moivre  intended  to  do  more  than  illustrate  his 
favourite  theory  of  probabilities.  He  showed  in  a 

1  Art.  "  De  Moivre  "  in  Penny  Cyclopaedia. 


CHAP.  xiv.    DE  MOIVRE   ON  PROBABILITIES.  249 

variety  of  ways  the  probable  results  of  throwing  dice 
in  certain  numbers  of  throws.  From  dice  throwing  he 
proceeded  to  lotteries,  and  showed  how  many  tickets 
ought  to  be  taken  to  secure  the  probability  of  drawing 
a  prize.  A  few  years  later  he  applied  his  views  to  a 
more  practical  purpose — the  valuation  of  annuities  on 
lives;  and  though  the  data  on  which  he  based  his 
calculations  were  incorrect,  and  his  valuations  conse- 
quently unreliable,  the  publication  of  his  Doctrine  of 
Chances  applied  to  the  valuation  of  annuities  on  lives, 
was  of  much  use  at  the  time  it  appeared;  and  it 
formed  the  basis  of  other  and  more  accurate  calcula- 
tions. 

De  Moivre's  books  were  on  too  abstruse  subjects  to 
yield  him  much  profit,  and  during  the  later  years  of 
his  life  he  had  to  contend  with  poverty.  It  is  said 
that  he  derived  a  precarious  subsistence  from  fees 
paid  to  him  for  solving  questions  relative  to  games  of 
chance  and  other  matters  connected  with  the  value  of 
probabilities.  He  frequented  a  coffee-house  in  St. 
Martin's  Lane,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  attractions ; 
and  there  his  customers  sought  him  to  work  out  their 
problems.  The  occupation  could  not  have  been  very 
tolerable  to  such  a  man  ;  but  he  was  growing  old  and 
helpless  in  body,  and  his  powers  of  calculation  formed 
his  only  capital.  He  survived  to  the  age  of  eighty- 
seven,  but  during  the  last  month  of  his  life  he  sank 
into  a  state  of  total  lethargy.  Shortly  before  his 
decease,  the  Academy  of  Berlin  elected  him  a  member. 
The  French  Academy  of  Sciences  also  elected  him  a 
foreign  associate ;  and  on  the  news  of  his  death  reach- 
ing Paris,  M.  de  Fouchy  drew  up  an  eloquent  eloge  of 
the  exiled  Huguenot,  which  was  duly  inserted  in  the 
records  of  the  Academy. 

For  the  reasons  above  stated,  the  number  of  refugee 
physicians  and  surgeons  who  sought  the  asylum  of 
England  was  very  considerable.  Many  of  them  settled 
to  practise  in  London  and  various  towns  in  the  south, 
while  others  obtained  appointments  in  the  army  and 


250  IIUGUENOT  LITERATI.  CHAP,  xiv 

navy.  Weiss  says  it  was  to  the  French  surgeons 
especially,  that  England  was  in  a  great  measure  in- 
debted for  the  remarkable  perfection  to  which  English 
surgical  instruments  arrived.  The  College  of  Physi- 
cians in  London  generously  opened  their  doors  to  the 
admission  of  their  foreign  brethren.  Between  the 
years  1681  and  1689  we  find  nine  French  physicians 
admitted,  amongst  whom  we  observe  the  name  of  the 
eminent  Sebastian  le  Fevre.1 

Among  the  literary  men  of  the  emigration  were  the 
brothers  Du  Moulin — Louis,  for  some  time  Camden 
professor  of  history  at  Oxford,  and  Peter,  prebendary 
of  Canterbury — both  authors  of  numerous  works ; 
Henry  Justel  (secretary  to  Louis  XIV.),  who  sold  off 
his  valuable  library  and  fled  to  England  some  years 
before  the  Revocation,  when  he  was  appointed  King's 
librarian ;  Peter  Anthony  Motteaux,  an  excellent 
linguist,  whose  translations  of  Cervantes  and  Rabelais 
first  popularised  the  works  of  those  writers  in  this 
country ;  Maximilian  Misson,  author  of  A  New  Voyage 
to  Italy,  Theatre  Sacre*  des  Cevennes,  and  other  works; 
Michel  de  la  Roche,  author  of  Memoirs  of  Literature, 
and  A  Literary  Journal,  which  filled  up  a  consider- 
able gap  in  literary  history;2  Michel  Mattaire,  M.A. 

1  The  family  were  of  long  and  vantage  that  can  never  be  too 
eminent   standing  in   Anjou   as  much  valued.     Being  a  studious 
medical  men.    Joshua  le  Fevre  man,  it  was  veiy  natural  to  me 
obtained  letters  of  naturalisation  to  write  some  books,  which   I 
in  1681;    but  before  that  date  have  done,  partly  in  English  and 
Nicasius  le  Fevre,  a  member  of  partly  in  French,  for  the  space  of 
the  same  family,  was  appointed  twenty  years.     The  only  advan- 
chemist  to   Charles    II.,  with  a  tage  I  have  got  by  them  is  that 
fee  of  £150  a  year. — DURRANI  they  have  not  been  unacceptable, 
COOPER — List  of  Foreign  Pro-  and  I  hope  I  have  done  no  dis- 
testants,  p.  xxvi.  honour  to  the  English  nation  by 

2  In  his  Literary  Journal,  De  those  French  books  printed  be- 
la  Roche    says :    •'  I    was    very  yond  sea,  in  which  I  undertook 
young   when    I  took   refuge  in  to  make  our   English    learning 
England,   so  that   most  of  the  better  known  to  foreigners  than 
little  learning  I  have  got  is  of  an  it  was  before.     I  have  said  just 
English  growth.  .  .  .  'Tis  in  this  now  that  I  took  refuge  in  Eng- 
country  I  have  learned  to  have  a  land.     When  I  consider  the  con- 
right  notion  of  religion,  an  ad-  tinual  fear  I  was  in  for  a  whole 


CHAP.  xiv.  GRA  VEROL  OF  NISMES.  251 

Oxon,  one  of  the  masters  of  Westminster  School,  an 
able  philologist,  the  author  of  several  learned  works 
on  typography  as  well  as  theology;  De  Souligne, 
grandson  of  Du  Plessis  Mornay  (the  Huguenot  leader), 
author  of  The  Desolation  of  France  demonstrated,  The 
Political  Mischiefs  of  Popery,  and  other  works ;  John 
Gagnier,  the  able  Orientalist,  professor  of  Oriental 
languages  at  Oxford  University,  and  the  author  of 
many  learned  treatises  on  Rabbinical  lore  and  kindred 
subjects;  John  Cornaud  de  la  Croze,  author  of  The 
Bibliotheque  Universelle,  The  Works  of  the  Learned, 
and  The  History  of  Learning ;  Abel  Boyer,  the  an- 
nalist, author  of  the  well-known  French  and  English 
Dictionary,  who  pursued  a  successful  literary  career 
in  England  for  nearly  forty  years  ;  Mark  Anthony  de 
la  Bastide,  author  of  several  highly-esteemed  contro- 
versial works;  and  Graverol  of  Nismes,  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  academy  of  that  city,  a  poet  and  juris- 
consult, who  published  in  London  a  history  of  his 
native  place,  addressed  to  "  Messieurs  les  Refugie's  de 
Nismes  qui  sont  dtablis  dans  Londres." 

The  last  pages  of  Graverol's  book  contain  a  touching 
narrative  of  the  sufferings  of  the  Protestants  of  Lan- 
guedoc,  and  conclude  as  follows: — "We,  who  are  in  a 
country  so  remote  from  our  own  only  for  the  sake  of 
God's  word,  and  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ,  let 
us  study  to  render  our  confession  and  our  faith  glorious 
by  discreet  and  modest  conduct,  by  an  exemplary  life, 
and  by  entire  devotion  to  the  service  of  God.  Let  us 
ever  bear  in  mind  that  we  are  the  sons  and  the  fathers 
of  martyrs.  Let  us  never  forget  this  glory,  but  strive 
to  transmit  it  to  our  posterity." 

But  the  most  eminent  of  the  refugees  were  the 
Huguenot  Pastors,  some  of  whom  were  men  highly 
distinguished  for  their  piety,  learning,  and  eloquence. 
Such  were  Abbadie,  considered  one  of  the  ablest  de- 
year,  of  being  discovered  and  great  difficulties  I  met  with  to 
imprisoned  to  force  me  to  abjure  make  my  escape,  I  wonder  I  have 
the  Protestant  religion,  and  the  not  been  a  stupid  man  ever  since." 


252  THE  PASTOR  ABBAD1E.  CHAP.  xiv. 

fenders  of  Christianity  in  his  day  ;  Saurin,  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  of  preachers;  Allix,  the  learned  phi- 
lologist and  historian,  and  Delange,  his  colleague; 
Pineton,  author  of  Les  Larmes  de  Chanibrun,  charac- 
terised by  Michelet  as  "  that  beautiful  but  terrible 
recital " ;  Drelincourt,  Marmet,  and  many  more. 

Jacques  Abbadie  was  the  scion  of  a  distinguished 
Bearnese  family.  After  completing  his  studies  at 
Sedan  and  Saumur,  he  took  his  doctor's  degree  at  the 
age  of  seventeen.  While  still  a  young  man,  he  was 
invited  to  take  charge  of  the  French  church  in  Berlin, 
which  he  accepted ;  and  his  reputation  served  to  at- 
tract large  numbers  of  refugees  to  that  city.  His 
Treatise  on  the  Truth  of  the  Christian  Religion  greatly 
increased  his  fame,  not  only  at  Berlin,  but  in  France, 
and  throughout  Europe.  Madame  de  SeVigne,  though 
rejoicing  at  the  banishment  of  the  Huguenots,  spoke 
of  it  in  a  high  strain  of  panegyric,  as  the  most  divine 
of  all  books :  "  I  do  not  believe,"  she  said,  "  that  any 
one  ever  spoke  of  religion  like  this  man !"  Even  Bussy 
Rabutin,  who  did  not  pass  for  a  believer,  said  of  the 
book :  "  We  are  reading  it  now,  and  we  think  it  the 
only  book  in  the  world  worth  reading."  A  few  years 
later,  Abbadie  published  his  Treatise  on  the  Divinity 
of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  so  entirely  free  from  contro- 
versial animus,  that  even  the  Roman  Catholics  of 
France  endeavoured  to  win  him  over  to  their  faith. 
But  they  deceived  themselves.  For,  on  the  death  of 
the  Elector,  Abbadie,  instead  of  returning  to  France, 
accompanied  his  friend  Marshal  Schomberg  to  Holland, 
and  afterwards  to  England,  in  the  capacity  of  chaplain. 
He  was  with  the  marshal  during  his  campaigns  in 
Ireland,  and  suffered  the  grief  of  seeing  his  benefactor 
fall  mortally  wounded  at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne. 

Returning  to  London,  Abbadie  became  attached  as 
minister  to  the  church  of  the  Savoy,  where  crowds 
flocked  to  hear  him  preach.  While  holding  tins  po- 
sition, he  wrote  his  Art  of  Knowing  Ones-self,  in 
which  he  powerfully  illustrated  the  relations  of  the 


CHAP.  xiv.     SAURIN,  THE  GREAT  PREACHES.  253 

human  conscience  to  the  duties  inculcated  by  the 
Gospel.  He  also  devoted  his  pen  to  the  cause  of 
William  III.,  and  published  his  Defence  of  the  British 
Nation,  in  which  he  justified  the  deposition  of  James 
II.,  and  the  Revolution  of  1688,  on  the  ground  of 
right  and  morality.  In  1694  he  was  selected  to 
pronounce  the  funeral  oration  of  Queen  Mary,  wife  of 
William  III., — a  sermon  containing  many  passages  of 
great  eloquence ;  shortly  after  which  he  entered  the 
English  Church,  and  was  appointed  to  the  deanery  of 
Killaloe,  in  which  office  he  ended  his  days. 

Jacques  Saurin  was  the  greatest  of  the  Protestant 
preachers.  He  was  the  son  of  an  advocate  at  Nismes, 
whose  three  sons  all  took  refuge  in  England — Jacques, 
the  pulpit-orator  ;  Captain  Saurin,  an  officer  in 
William's  army  ;  and  Louis,  some  time  minister  of 
the  French  church  in  the  Savoy,  and  afterwards  Dean 
of  St.  Patrick's,  Ardagh.1  Jacques  Saurin  was,  in  the 
early  part  of  his  life,  tempted  to  the  profession  of 
arms  ;  and  when  only  seventeen  years  of  age  he  served 
as  an  ensign  in  the  army  of  Savoy,  under  the  Marquis 
de  Ruvigny,  Earl  of  Gal  way.  Returning  to  his  studies 
at  Geneva,  he  prepared  himself  for  the  ministry ;  and 
having  proceeded  to  England  in  1701,  he  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  ministers  of  the  French  church  in 
Threadneedle  Street.  He  held  that  office  for  four 
years,  after  which  he  was  called  to  the  Hague,  and 
there  developed  that  talent  as  a  preacher  for  which 
he  became  so  distinguished.  He  was  made  minister- 
extraordinary  to  the  French  community  of  nobles,  and 
held  that  office  until  his  death. 

Scarcely  less  distinguished  was  Peter  Allix,  for  some 
time  pastor  of  the  great  Protestant  church  at  Charen- 
ton,  near  Paris,  and  afterwards  of  the  Temple  of  the 
French  Hospital  in  Spitalfields,  London.  His  style  of 

1  From  him  were  lineally  de-  able   William  Saurin,  Attorney  - 

scended    the    Right     Reverend  General  for  Ireland  from   1807 

James  ISaurin,   Bishop    of   Dro-  to  1821. 
more,   and  the  Right    Honour- 


254  ALLIX  AND  PINETON.  CHAP.  xiv. 


preaching  was  less  ornate,  but  not  less  forcible,  than 
that  of  Saurin.  His  discourses  were  simple,  clear,  and 
persuasive.  The  great  object  which  he  aimed  at,  was 
the  enforcement  of  union  among  Protestants.  Louis 
XIV.  tried  every  means  to  induce  him  to  enter  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  a  pension  was  offered 
him  if,  in  that  case,  he  would  return  to  France.  But 
Allix  resisted  all  such  persuasions,  and  died  in  exile. 
His  erudition  was  recognised  by  the  Universities  of 
Oxford  and  Cambridge,  who  conferred  upon  him  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity;  and,  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  Bishop  Burnet,  he  was  made  canon  and 
treasurer  of  Salisbury  Cathedral.  Allix  left  behind 
him  many  published  works,  which  in  their  time  were 
highly  esteemed. 

Jacques  Pineton  was  another  of  the  refugee  pastors 
who  illustrated  his  faith  by  his  life,  which  was  pure 
and  beautiful.  He  had  personally  suffered  more  than 
most  of  his  brethren,  and  he  lived  to  relate  the  story 
of  his  trials  in  his  touching  narrative  entitled  Les 
Larmes  de  Chambrun.  He  was  pastor  of  a  Protestant 
church  in  the  village  of  that  name,  situated  near 
Avignon,  in  the  principality  of  Orange,  when  the 
district  was  overrun  by  the  troops  of  Louis  XIV.  The 
dragonnade  was  even  more  furiously  conducted  there 
than  elsewhere,  because  of  the  hatred  entertained  by 
the  King  towards  the  Protestant  prince  who  took  his 
title  from  the  little  principality.  The  troops  were 
under  the  command  of  the  Count  of  Tessd,  a  ferocious 
and  profane  officer.  Pineton  was  laid  up  at  the  time 
by  an  attack  of  gout,  the  suffering  from  which  was 
aggravated  by  the  recent  fracture  of  a  rib  which  he 
had  sustained.  As  he  lay  helpless  on  his  couch,  a 
party  of  forty-two  dragoons  burst  into  his  house, 
entered  his  chamber,  lit  a  number  of  candles,  beat 
their  drums  round  his  bed,  and  filled  the  room  with 
tobacco-smoke,  so  as  almost  to  stifle  him.  They  then 
drank  until  they  fell  asleep  and  snored ;  but  theii 
officers  entering,  roused  them  from  their  stupor  by 


CHAP.  xiv.  PHfJSTON'8  ESCAPE  FROM  FRANCE.  255 

laying  about  amongst  them  with  their  canes.  While 
the  men  were  asleep,  Pinetou  urged  his  wife  to  fly, 
which  she  attempted  to  do ;  but  she  was  taken  in  the 
act  and  brought  before  Tesse',  who  brutally  told  her 
that  she  must  regard  herself  as  the  property  of  the 
regiment.  She  fell  at  his  feet  distracted,  and  would 
have  been  lost,  but  that  a  priest  to  whom  Pineton  had 
rendered  some  service,  offered  himself  as  surety  for 
her.  The  priest,  however,  made  it  a  condition  that 
she  and  her  husband  should  abjure  their  religion ;  and 
in  a  moment  of  agony  and  despair,  both  succumbed, 
and  agreed  to  conform  to  popery. 

Remorse  immediately  followed,  and  they  determined 
to  take  the  first  opportunity  to  fly.  Upon  the  plea 
that  Pineton,  still  in  great  pain,  required  surgical  aid, 
he  obtained  leave  to  proceed  to  Lyons.  He  was  placed 
in  a  litter,  the  slightest  movement  of  which  caused 
him  indescribable  pain.  When  the  people  saw  him 
carried  away,  they  wept, — Catholic  as  well  as  Protes- 
tant. Even  the  dragoons  were  moved.  The  sufferer 
reached  Lyons,  where  he  was  soon  cured  and  declared 
convalescent.  It  appears  that  the  frontier  was  less 
stiictly  guarded  near  Lyons ;  and  with  the  assistance 
of  a  friend,  Pineton  shortly  after  contrived  to  escape 
in  the  disguise  of  a  general  officer.  He  set  out  in 
a  carriage  with  four  horses,  attended  by  a  train 
of  servants  in  handsome  liveries.  At  the  bridge  of 
Beauvoisin,  where  a  picket  of  dragoons  was  posted,  he 
was  allowed  to  cross  without  interruption,  the  soldiers 
having  previously  been  informed  that  "  my  lord  "  was 
a  great  officer  travelling  express  into  Switzerland. 
There  was,  however,  still  the  frontier  guard  of  the 
Duke  of  Savoy  to  pass.  It  commanded  the  great  road 
across  the  Alps,  and  was  maintained  for  the  express 
purpose  of  preventing  the  escape  of  Huguenots.  By 
the  same  bold  address,  and  feigning  great  indignation 
at  the  guard  attempting  to  obstruct  his  passage, 
Pineton  was  allowed  to  proceed,  and  shortly  after  he 
reached  Chambery.  Next  morning  he  entered  the 


256  ESCAPE  OF  MADAME  PINETON.     CHAP.  xiv. 


French  gate  of  Geneva,  giving  expression  to  bis  feel- 
ings by  singing  the  eighth  verse  of  the  twenty-sixth 
Psalm, — 

"  Que  j'aime  ce  saint  lieu 
Oil  Tu  parois,  mon  Dieu,"  etc. 

Madame  Pineton  was  less  fortunate  in  her  flight. 
She  set  out  for  the  Swiss  frontier  accompanied  by 
three  ladies  belonging  to  Lyons.  The  guides  whom 
they  had  hired  and  paid  to  conduct  them,  had  the 
barbarity  to  desert  them  in  the  mountains.  It  was 
winter.  They  wandered  and  lost  their  way.  They 
were  nine  hours  in  the  snow.  They  were  driven  away 
from  Cardon,  and  pursued  along  the  Rhone.  The 
Lyons  ladies,  vanquished  by  cold,  fatigue,  and  hunger, 
wished  to  return  to  Lyons  and  give  themselves  up; 
they  could  endure  no  longer.  But  Madame  Pineton 
hoped  that  by  this  time  her  husband  had  reached 
Geneva;  and  she  found  courage  for  them  all.  She 
would  not  listen  to  the  proposal  to  go  back  ;  she  must 
go  forward  ;  arid  the  contest  ended  in  their  proceed- 
ing, and  arriving  at  last  at  Geneva,  and  there  finding 
safety  and  liberty.  The  pastor  Pineton,  after  remain- 
ing for  a  short  time  in  that  city,  proceeded  towards 
Holland,  where  he  was  graciously  received  by  the 
Prince  of  Orange.  Having  been  appointed  one  of  the 
Princess's  chaplains,  he  accompanied  Mary  to  London, 
and  was  appointed  a  canon  of  Windsor.  He  did  not, 
however,  live  long  to  enjoy  his  dignity,  for  he  died 
in  1689,  the  year  after  his  arrival  in  England  ;  though 
he  lived  to  give  to  the  world  the  touching  narrative 
of  his  adventures  and  sufferings. 

Many  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  French 
pastors  were  admitted  to  degrees  in  the  Universities 
of  Oxford  and  Cambridge ;  and  several,  besides  the 
above,  held  benefices  in  the  English  Church.  In  1682, 
when  the  learned  Samuel  de  1' Angle  was  created  D.D. 
of  Oxford  without  payment  of  the  customary  fees,  he 
was  conducted  into  the  House  of  Convocation  by  the 
King's  professor  of  divinity,  and  all  the  masters  stood 


CIIA  p.  xi v.   HUG  UEXO  T  CHUR  CIIMEN  $  DISSENTERS.    257 

up  to  receive  him.  De  1'Angle  had  been  the  chief 
preacher  in  the  temple  of  Charenton,  near  Paris  ;  and 
after  thirty-five  years  of  zealous  work  there,  he  fled 
from  France  with  his  family,  to  end  his  days  in 
England.  He  was  afterwards  made  prebendary  of 
Canterbury  and  Westminster.  Peter  Drelincourt,  son 
of  the  famous  French  divine,  whose  work  on  Death, l 
has  been  translated  into  nearly  all  the  languages  of 
Europe,  was  another  refugee  who  entered  the  Church, 
and  became  Dean  of  Armagh.  Dr.  Hans  de  Veille, 
a  man  of  great  learning,  having  also  entered  the 
Church,  was  made  library-keeper  at  Lambeth  Palace 
by  Dr.  Tillotson.  then  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

Though  many  of  the  most  eminent  French  ministers 
joined  the  Established  Church  of  England,  others 
equally  learned  and  able  became  preachers  and  pro- 
fessors among  the  Dissenters.  While  Pierre  du  Moulin 
was  a  prebendary  of  Canterbury,  his  brother  Louis 
was  a  stout  Presbyterian.  Charles  Marie  du  Veil, 
originally  a  Jew,  was  first  converted  to  Roman  Catho- 
licism, next  to  Protestantism,  and  ended  by  becoming  a 
Baptist  minister.  But  the  most  eminent  of  the  refugees 
who  joined  the  Dissenters  was  the  Reverend  James 
Capell,  who  had  held  the  professorship  of  Hebrew  in 
the  University  of  Saumur  at  the  early  age  of  nineteen. 
He  fled  into  England  shortly  after  the  Revocation,  and 
in  1708  he  accepted  a  professor's  chair  at  the  Dissenters' 
College  in  Hoxton  Square.  There  he  long  continued 
to  teach  the  Oriental  languages  and  their  critical  ap- 
plication in  the  study  of  the  Scriptures ;  and  he  per- 
formed his  duties  with  such  distinguished  ability  that 
the  institution  came  to  enjoy  a  very  high  repute. 
Many  of  the  ablest  ministers  of  the  next  generation, 
Churchmen  as  well  as  Dissenters,  studied  under  Mr. 
Capell,  and  received  from  him  their  best  education. 


1  Les  Consolations  de  I'Amt  than  forty  times  in  France,  and 
fiddle  centre  les  Frayeurs  de  la  many  times  in  England  in  its 
Mart  has  been  reprinted  more  translated  form. 

17 


258  MTNTRTEJtR  OF  FRENCH  CHURCHES.  CHAP.  xrv. 

He  held  the  office  for  fourteen  years,  and  died  at 
eighty-three,  the  last  of  his  family. 

Of  the  ministersof  the  French  churches  in  London,  be- 
sides those  already  named,  the  most  distinguished  were 
the  Reverend  Charles  Bertheau,  minister  of  the  French 
church  in  Threadneedle  Street,  who  officiated  in  that 
capacity  with  great  ability  for  a  period  of  forty-six 
years ;  the  Reverend  Henri  Chatelain,1  minister  of  the 
French  church  in  St.  Martin's  Lane ;  the  Reverend 
Csesar  Pegorier,  minister  of  the  Artillery  and  Taber- 
nacle churches,  and  author  of  numerous  controversial 
works ;  the  Reverend  Henri  Rochblave,  minister  of  the 
refugee  church  at  Greenwich,  and  afterwards  of  the 
French  Chapel-Royal,  St.  James's;  the  Reverend  Daniel 
Chamier,  minister  of  the  French  church  in  Leicester- 
fields  ;  and  the  Reverend  Jean  Graver ol,  minister  of 
the  French  churches  of  Swallow  Street  and  the  Quarrd 
— a  voluminous  and  eloquent  writer.  The  Reverend 
Antoine  Peres  (formerly  professor  of  Oriental  languages 
in  the  University  of  Montauban)  and  Ezekiel  Marmet, 
were  ministers  of  other  French  churches,  and  were 
greatly  beloved, — Marmet's  book  of  meditations  on  the 
words  of  Job,  "  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth," 
being  prized  by  devout  readers  of  all  persuasions. 

The  Reverend  Claude  de  la  Mothe  and  Jean  Armand 
du  Bourdieu  were  ministers  of  the  French  church  in  the 
Savoy,  the  principal  West-end  congregation,  frequented 
by  the  most  distinguished  of  the  refugees.  Both  these 
ministers  were  eminent  for  their  learning  and  their 
eloquence.  The  former  was  of  a  noble  Huguenot  family 
named  Grostete.  He  studied  law  when  a  youth  at 


1  Henri  Chatelain  was  the  great-  was  zealous  from   the  fifteenth 

grandson  of  Simon  Chatelain,  of  year  of  his  age  to  the  eighty-fifth, 

Paris,    the    famous    Protestant  which  was  his  last.     He  died  in 

manufacturer  of  gold  and  silver  1675,  leaving  more  than  eighty 

lace.     This    lace    was    a    much  descendants,  who  all  paid  fines 

prized  article.     It  procured  for  for  openly  attending  his  funeral, 

the  steadfast  Huguenot  the  tole-  — AGNEW — French    Protestant 

ration  of  his  religion,  in  which  he  Exile».  237. 


CHAP.  xiv.  THE  DU  BOURDTEUS.  259 

Orleans,  his  native  city,  where  he  took  the  degree  of  Doc- 
tor of  Civil  Law.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Berlin.  He  practised  for  some  time  at  Paris 
as  an  advocate,  but  subsequently  left  law  for  divinity, 
and  was  appointed  pastor  of  the  church  at  Lisy  in  1675. 
At  the  Revocation  he  fled  to  England  with  his  wife, 
and  was  selected  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  church  in 
the  Savoy.  He  was  the  author  of  numerous  works, 
which  enjoyed  a  high  reputation  in  his  day.  He  also 
devoted  much  of  his  time  to  correspondence,  with  the 
object  of  obtaining  the  release  of  Protestant  martyrs 
from  the  French  galleys. 

Jean  Armand  du  Bourdieu,  the  colleague  of  De  la 
Mothe,  though  celebrated  as  a  preacher,  was  still 
more  distinguished  as  an  author.  Like  himself,  his 
father  was  a  refugee  divine,  and  preached  in  London 
until  his  ninety-fifth  year.  Jean.  Armand  had  been 
pastor  of  a  church  at  Montpelier,  which  he  left  at  the 
Revocation,  and  came  over  to  England,  followed  by  a 
large  number  of  his  flock.  He  was  chaplain  to  the 
three  dukes  of  Schomberg  in  succession,  and  was  by 
the  old  duke's  side  when  he  fell  at  the  Boyne.  In 
1707  he  preached  a  sermon  in  London,  which  was 
afterwards  published,  wherein  he  alluded  to  Louis  XIV. 
as  a  Pharaoh  to  the  oppressed  Protestants  of  France. 
The  French  king  singled  him  out  from  the  many 
refugee  preachers  in  England,  and  demanded,  through 
his  minister,  that  he  should  be  punished.  Louis'  com- 
plaint was  formally  referred  to  the  Bishao  of  London 
— the  French  church  in  the  Savoy  being  under  his 
jurisdiction, — and  Du  Bourdieu  was  summoned  before 
his  Grace  at  Fulham  Palace  to  answer  the  charge. 
After  reading  and  considering  the  memorial  of  the 
French  ambassador,  the  pastor  was  asked  what  he  had 
to  say  to  it.  He  replied  that  "  during  the  war  he  had, 
after  the  example  of  several  prelates  and  clergymen 
of  the  Church  of  England,  preached  freely  against  the 
common  enemy  and  persecutor  of  the  Church ;  and  the 
greatest  part  of  his  sermons  being  printed  with  his 


260  THE  DU  BOURDIEUS.  CHAP.  XT v. 

name  affixed,  he  was  far  from  disowning  them ;  but 
since  the  proclamation  of  the  peace  [of  Utrecht],  he  had 
not  said  anything  that  did  in  the  least  regard  the 
French  king."  No  further  steps  were  taken  in  the 
matter. 

Du  Bourdieu  continued  indefatigably  active  on  behalf 
of  his  oppressed  brethren  in  France  during  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life.  His  pen  was  seldom  idle,  and  his 
winged  words  flew  abroad  and  kept  alive  the  indig- 
nation of  the  Protestant  north  against  the  persecutors 
of  his  countrymen.  In  1717  he  published  two  works, 
one  "  A  Vindication  of  our  Martyrs  at  the  Galleys  ;  " 
another,  "  A  Comparison  of  the  Penal  Laws  of  France 
against  Protestants  with  those  of  England  against 
Papists ! "  and,  in  the  following  year,  "  An  Appeal  to 
the  English  Nation."  He  was  now  an  old  man  of 
seventy ;  but  his  fire  burned  to  the  last.  Two  years 
later  he  died,  beloved  and  lamented  by  all  who  knew 
him.1 

There  is  little  reason  to  doubt  that  the  earnestness, 
eloquence,  and  learning  of  this  distinguished  band  of 
exiles  for  conscience'  sake  exercised  an  influence,  not 
only  on  English  religion  and  politics,  but  also  on 
English  literature,  which  continues  to  operate  to  this 
day. 

1    A    great-grandson    of    Du  the    French    commandant,   who 

Bourdieu,  Captain  Saumarez  Du-  said,  on  presenting  it :  "  My  mis- 

bourdieu,  was  an  officer  in  the  fortune  is  the  lighter,  as  I  am 

British  army  at  the  capture  of  conquered  by  a  Dubourdieu,  a 

Martinique  from  the  French  in  beloved    relative.    My  name  is 

.762.    He  received  the  sword  of  Dubourdieu  1 " 


CHAPTER  XV. 

HUGUENOT   SETTLEMENTS   IN   ENGLAND — MEN   OF 
INDUSTRY. 

WE  now  come  to  the  immigration  and  settlement  in 
England  of  Huguenot  merchants,  manufacturers,  and 
artizans,  which  exercised  a  still  greater  influence  on 
English  industry  than  the  immigration  of  French 
literati  and  divines  did  upon  English  literature. 

It  is  computed  that  about  100,000  French  manu- 
facturers and  workmen  fled  into  England  in  conse- 
quence of  the  Revocation,  besides  those  who  took 
refuge  in  Switzerland,  Germany,  and  Holland.  When 
the  Huguenot  employers  of  labour  shut  up  their  works  in 
France  and  prepared  to  emigrate,  their  workmen  usually 
arranged  to  follow  them.  Protestant  masters  and  men 
converted  what  they  could  into  money,  and  made  for 
the  coast,  accompanied  by  their  families.  The  paper- 
makers  of  Angoumois  left  their  mills ;  the  silk-makers 
of  Touraine  left  their  looms  ;  the  tanners  of  Normandy 
left  their  pits  ;  the  vine-dressers  and  farmers  of  Saint- 
onge,  Poitou,  and  La  Rochelle,  left  their  vineyards, 
their  farms,  and  their  gardens,  and  looked  into  the 
wide  world,  seawards,  for  a  new  home  and  refuge, 
where  they  might  work  and  worship  in  peace. 

The  principal  immigration  into  England  was  from 
Normandy  and  Brittany.1  Upwards  of  10,000  of  the 

1  FLOQUET,  the  accredited  his-  vicinity  of  the  sea,  and  of  their 

torian  of  Normandy  (Histoircdu  connection  with    England    and 

Parlement  de  Normandic),  cal-  Holland,  to  abandon  their  coun- 

culates  that  not  less  than  184,000  try. 
Protestants  took  advantage  of  the 


262  FLIGHT  OF  MASTERS  AND  MEN.     CHAP.  xv. 

industrial  class  left  Rouen;  and  several  thousand 
persons,  principally  engaged  in  the  maritime  trade, 
set  out  from  Caen,  leaving  that  city  to  solitude  and 
poverty.  The  whole  Protestant  population  of  Cou- 
tances  emigrated,  and  the  fine  linen  manufactures  of 
the  place  were  at  once  extinguished.  There  was  a 
similar  flight  of  masters  and  men  from  Elboeuf, 
Alenc.on,  Caudebec,  Havre,  and  other  northern  towns. 
The  makers  of  noyal  and  white  linen  cloths,  for  which 
a  ready  market  had  been  obtained  abroad,  left  Nantes, 
Rennes,  and  Morlaix  in  Brittany,  and  Le  Mans  and 
Laval  in  Maine,  and  went  over  to  England  to  carry 
on  their  manufactures  there.  The  provinces  further 
north,  also  largely  contributed  to  swell  the  stream  of 
emigration  into  England :  the  cloth-makers  departed 
from  Amiens,  Abbeville,  and  Doullens;  the  gauze- 
makers  and  lace-makers  from  Lille  and  Valenciennes ; 
and  artizans  of  all  kinds  from  the  various  towns  and 
cities  of  the  interior. 

Notwithstanding  the  precautions  taken  by  the 
French  government,  and  the  penalty  of  death  or 
condemnation  to  the  galleys  for  life,  to  which  people 
were  subject  who  were  taken  in  the  act  of  flight,  the 
emigration  could  not  be  stopped.  The  fugitives  were 
helped  on  their  way  by  their  fellow-Protestants,  and 
often  by  Roman  Catholics  themselves,  who  pitied  their 
sad  fate.  The  fugitives  lay  concealed  in  barns  and 
farmyards  by  day,  and  travelled  by  night  towards  the 
coast.  There  the  maritime  population,  many  of  whom 
were  Protestants  like  themselves,  actively  connived  at 
their  escape.  France  presented  too  wide  a  reach  ot 
sea-frontier,  extending  from  Bayonne  to  Calais,  to  be 
effectively  watched  by  any  coast-guards  ;  and  not  only 
the  French,  but  the  English  and  Dutch  merchant- 
ships,  which  hovered  about  the  coast  waiting  for  the 
agreed  signal  to  put  in  and  take  on  board  their  freight 
of  fugitives,  had  comparatively  little  difficulty  in 
carrying  them  off  in  safety. 

Of  those  fugitives  who  succeeded  in  making  good 


CHAP.  xv.  RELIEF  OF  THE  REFUGEES.  263 

their  escape,  the  richest  took  refuge  in  Holland ;  while 
the  bulk  of  those  who  settled  in  England  were  persons 
of  comparatively  small  means.  Yet  a  considerable 
sum  of  ready-money  must  have  been  brought  over  by 
the  refugees,  as  we  find  the  French  ambassador  writing 
to  Louis  XIV.  in  1687,  that  as  much  as  960,000  louis 
dor  had  already  been  sent  to  the  Mint  for  conversion 
into  English  money.1  This  was,  however,  the  property 
of  a  comparatively  small  number  of  wealthy  families ; 
fo:  the  greater  proportion  of  those  who  landed  in 
England  were  all  but  destitute. 

Prompt  steps  were  taken  for  the  relief  of  the  poorer 
immigrants.  Collections  were  made  in  the  churches ; 
public  subscriptions  were  raised ;  and  Parliament  voted 
2onsiderable  sums  from  the  public  purse.  Thus  a  fund 
of  nearly  £200,000  was  collected  and  invested  for  the 
benefit  of  the  refugees, — the  annual  interest,  about 
£15,000,  being  intrusted  to  a  committee  for  distribu- 
tion among  the  most  necessitous ;  while  about  £2000 
a  year  was  applied  towards  the  support  of  the  poor 
French  ministers  and  their  respective  churches.  The 
pressure  on  the  relief  fund  was  of  course  greatest  in 
those  years  immediately  following  the  Revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes,  before  the  destitute  foreigners  had 
been  able  to  maintain  themselves  by  their  respective 
callings.  There  was  also  a  large  number  of  destitute 
landed  gentry,  professional  men,  and  pastors,  to  whom 
the  earning  of  a  livelihood  was  extremely  difficult; 
and  these  also  had  to  be  relieved  out  of  the  fund. 

From  the  first  report  of  the  French  Relief  Committee, 
dated  December,  1687 — that  is,  only  fourteen  months 
after  the  Revocation — it  appears  that  15,500  refugees 
had  been  relieved  in  the  course  of  the  year.  "Of 
these,"  says  Weiss,  "13,050  were  settled  in  London, 

1  MACPHERSON  says,  "  I  have  another,  they  brought  £60  each 

seen  a  computation,  at  the  low-  in   money    or   effects,   whereby 

est  supposition,  of  only  50,000  of  they  added  three  millions  ster- 

those  people   coming    to  Great  ling  to  the  wealth  of  Britain." 

Britain,    and    that,    one    with  — Annals  of  Commerce,  ii.  617. 


264     HELP  GIVEN  TO  THE  POORER  EXILES.  CHAP.  xv. 

and  2000  in  the  different  seaport  towns  where  they 
had  disembarked.  Amongst  them  the  committee  dis- 
tinguishes 140  persons  of  quality  with  their  families  ; 
143  ministers;  144  lawyers,  physicians,  traders,  and 
burghers.  It  designates  the  others  under  the  general 
denomination  of  artizans  and  workmen.  The  persois 
of  quality  received  weekly  assistance  in  money  through- 
out the  whole  of  that  year.  Their  sons  were  placed  in 
the  best  commercial  houses.  About  150  of  them  aa- 
tered  the  army,  and  were  provided,  at  the  cost  of  the 
committee,  with  a  complete  outfit.  The  ministers  ob- 
tained for  themselves  and  their  families  pensions  whiih 
were  regularly  paid.  Their  sons  found  employment  In 
the  houses  of  rich  merchants  or  of  persons  of  quality. 
Weekly  assistance  was  'granted  to  the  sick,  and  tc 
those  whose  great  age  prevented  them  earning  their 
living  by  labour.  The  greater  part  of  the  artizans  and 
workmen  were  employed  in  the  English  manufactories. 
The  committee  supplied  them  with  the  necessary  im- 
plements and  tools,  and  provided,  at  the  same  time,  for 
their  other  wants.  Six  hundred  of  them,  for  whom  it 
could  not  find  employment  in  England,  were  sent  at  its 
cost  to  America.  Fifteen  French  churches  were  also 
erected  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  national  subscription, 
— three  in  London,  and  twelve  in  the  vaiious  counties 
where  the  greater  number  of  the  refugees  had  settled." 1 
The  help  thus  generously  given  to  the  distressed 
refugees  by  the  nation,  was  very  shortly  rendered 
unnecessary  through  the  vigorous  efforts  which  they 
made  to  help  themselves.  They  sought  about  in  all 
directions  for  employment;  and  being  ingenious,  in- 
telligent, and  industrious,  they  gradually  succeeded  in 
obtaining  it.  French  workpeople  are  better  econo- 
mists than  the  English,  and  less  sufficed  for  their 
wants.  They  were  satisfied  if  they  could  keep  a  roof 
over  their  heads,  a  clean  fireside,  and  the  pot-au-feu 
going.  What  English  artizans  despised  as  food  they 

1  WEISS — History  of  the  French  Protestant  Refugees,  p.  224. 


CHAP.  xv.   ORIGINATORS  OF  HENEFIT  SOCIETIES.       265 

could  make  a  meal  of.  For  they  brought  with  them 
from  France  the  art  of  cooking — the  art  of  economising 
nutriment  and  at  the  same  time  presenting  it  in  the 
most  savoury  forms — an  art  almost  entirely  unknown 
even  at  this  day  in  the  homes  of  English  workmen, 
and  the  want  of  which  occasions  enormous  national 
loss.  Before  the  arrival  of  the  refugees,  the  London 
butchers  sold  their  bullocks'  hides  to  the  fellmongers 
always  with  the  tails  on.  The  tails  were  thrown 
away  and  wasted.  Who  could  ever  dream  of  eating 
oxen's  tails  ?  The  refugees  profited  by  the  delusion. 
They  obtained  the  tails,  enriched  their  pots-au-feu 
with  them,  and  revelled  in  the  now  well-known  deli- 
cacy of  ox-tail  soup. 

The  refugees  were  also  very  helpful  of  one  another. 
The  richer  helped  the  poorer,  and  the  poorer  helped 
each  other.  The  Marquis  de  Ruvigny  kept  almost  open 
house,  and  was  equally  ready  to  open  his  purse  to  his 
distressed  countrymen.  Those  who  had  the  means  of 
starting  manufactories  and  workshops,  employed  as 
many  hands  as  they  could;  and  such  of  the  men  as 
earned  wages,  helped  to  support  those  who  remained 
unemployed.  Being  of  foreign  birth,  and  having  no 
claim  upon  the  poor-rates,  the  French  artizans  formed 
themselves  into  societies  for  mutual  relief  in  sick- 
ness and  old  age.  These  were  the  first  societies  of 
the  kind  established  by  workmen  in  England,  though 
they  have  since  been  largely  imitated;1  and  the  Odd- 
fellows, Foresters,  and  numerous  other  benefit  societies 
of  the  labouring  class,  though  they  may  not  know  it, 

1  One  of  the  oldest  of  the  French  mostly  bearing  French  names; 

benefit  societies  was  the  "  Nor-  but  at  length  the  foreign  element 

man  Society  "  of  Bethnal  Green,  became  so  mixed  with  the  English 

which  only  ceased  to  exist  in  that  it  almost  ceased  to  be  recog- 

1863,  after  a  life  of  upwards  of  nisable,  and  the  society  may  be 

150  years.     Down  to   the  year  said  to  have  died  out  with  the 

1800,  the  whole  of  the  society's  absorption  of  the  distinctive  class 

accounts  were  kept  in  French,  for  whose  benefit  it  was  originally 

the  members  being  the  descen-  instituted, 
dants    of    French    Protestants, 


266  REFUGEE  ARTIZANS  IN  LONDON.     CHAP.  XV 

are  but  following  in  the  path  long  since  chalked  out  for 
them  by  the  French  refugees. 

The  working-class  immigrants  very  soon  settled 
down  to  the  practice  of  their  respective  callings  in 
different  parts  of  the  country.  A  large  proportion  of 
them  settled  in  London,  and  several  districts  of  the 
metropolis  were  almost  entirely  occupied  by  them. 
Spitalfields,  Bethnal  Green,  and  Soho  were  the  princi- 
pal French  quarters,  where  French  was  spoken  in  the 
workshops,  in  the  schools  and  churches,  and  in  the 
streets.  But  the  immigrants  also  distributed  them- 
selves in  other  districts:  many  of  them  settled  in 
Aldgate,  Bishopsgate,  Shoreditch,  and  the  quarters  ad- 
joining Thames  Street.  A  little  colony  of  them  settled 
in  one  of  the  streets  leading  from  Broad  Street  to  the 
Guildhall,  which  came  to  be  called  "  Petty  France," 
from  the  number  of  French  who  inhabited  it.  Others 
settled  in  Long  Acre,  the  Seven  Dials,  and  the 
neighbourhood  of  Temple  Bar.  Le  Mann,  the  famous 
biscuit  maker,  opened  his  shop  and  flourished  near  the 
Royal  Exchange.  Some  opened  shops  for  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  of  cutlery  and  mathematical  and  sur- 
gical instruments,  in  the  Strand;  while  others  began 
the  making  of  watches,  the  fabrication  of  articles  in 
gold  and  silver,  and  the  cutting  and  mounting  of 
jewellery,  in  which  the  French  artizans  were  then 
admitted  to  be  the  most  expert  in  Europe. 

France  had  long  been  the  leader  of  fashion,  and  all 
the  world  bought  dress  and  articles  of  virtu  at  Paris. 
Colbert  was  accustomed  to  say  that  the  Fashions  were 
worth  more  to  France  than  the  mines  of  Peru  were  to 
Spain.  Only  articles  of  French  manufacture,  with  a 
French  name,  could  find  purchasers  amongst  people  of 
fashion  in  London.  "  The  fondness  of  the  nation  for 
French  Commodities  was  such,"  says  Joshua  Gee,  "that 
it  was  a  very  hard  matter  to  bring  them  into  love  with 
those  made  at  home."1  Goods  to  the  amount  of  above 

1  JOSHUA  GEE — The  Trade  and  Navigation  of  Great  Britain  con- 
tidercd. 


CHAP  xv.  FRENCH  MANUFACTURES  IN  ENGLAND.       267 

two  and  a  half  millions  sterling  were  annually  im- 
ported from  France,  whereas  the  value  of  English  goods 
exported  thither  did  not  amount  to  a  million. 

The  principal  articles  imported  from  France  previous 
to  the  Revocation,  were  velvets  and  satins  from  Lyons; 
silks  and  taffetas  from  Tours  ;  silk  ribands,  galloons, 
laces,  gloves,  and  buttons  from  Paris  and  Rouen ;  serges 
from  Chalons,  Rheims,  Amiens,  and  various  towns  in 
Picardy ;  beaver  and  felt  hats  from  Paris,  Rouen,  and 
Lyons ;  paper  of  all  sorts  from  Auvergne,  Poitou, 
Limousin,  Champagne,  Normandy  ;  ironmongery  and 
cutlery  from  Forrests,  Auvergne ;  linen  cloth  from 
Brittany  and  Normandy;  salt  from  Rochelle  and  Oleron, 
Isle  of  Rhe';  wines  from  Gascony,  Nantes,  and  Bordeaux; 
and  feathers,  fans,  girdles,  pins,  needles,  combs,  soap, 
aqua-vitie,  vinegar,  and  various  sorts  of  household 
stuffs,  from  different  parts  of  France. 

So  soon,  however,  as  the  French  artizans  had  settled 
in  London,  they  proceeded  to  establish  and  carry  on 
the  same  manufactures  which  they  had  worked  at 
abroad ;  and  a  large  portion  of  the  stream  of  gold  which 
before  had  flowed  into  France,  now  flowed  into  Eng- 
land. They  introduced  all  the  manufactures  connected 
with  the  fashions,  so  that  English  customers  became 
supplied  with  French-made  articles,  without  requiring 
to  send  abroad  money  to  buy  them ;  while  the  refugees 
obtained  a  ready  sale  for  all  the  goods  which  they  could 
make,  at  remunerative  prices.  "  Nay,"  says  a  writer  of 
the  time,  "  the  English  have  now  so  great  an  esteem 
for  the  workmanship  of  the  French  refugees,  that 
hardly  anything  vends  without  a  Gallic  name."1  The 
French  beavers,  which  had  before  been  imported  from 
Caudebec  in  France,  were  now  made  in  the  borough  of 
Southwark  and  at  Wandsworth,  where  several  hat- 
makers  began  their  operations  on  a  considerable  scale.2 

1  History  of  the  Trade  in  Eng-  brought  into  England  by  the  re- 
land ' :  London,  1702.  fugees.     In  France  it  had  been 

2  Hat-making  was  one  of  the  almost  entirely  in  the  haitds  of 
most    important     manufactures  the     Protestants.      They     alone 


268  MANUFACTURE  OF  SILK  CHAP.  xv. 

Others  introduced  the  manufacture  of  buttons,  of  wool, 
silk,  and  metal,  which  before  had  been  made  almost 
exclusively  in  France.  The  printing  of  calicoes  was 
introduced  by  a  refugee,  who  established  a  manufac- 
tory for  the  purpose  near  Richmond.  Other  print- 
works were  started  at  Bromley  in  Essex,  from  whence 
the  manufacture  was  afterwards  removed  into  Lanca- 
shire. A  French  refugee,  named  Passavant,  purchased 
the  tapestry-manufactory  at  Fulham,  originally  estab- 
lished by  the  Walloons,  which  had  fallen  into  decay. 
His  first  attempts  at  reviving  the  manufacture  not 
having  proved  successful,  he  removed  the  works  to 
Exeter,  where  he  established  them  prosperously,  with 
the  assistance  of  some  workmen  whom  he  obtained  from 
the  Gobelins  at  Paris. 

But  the  most  important  branch  of  manufacture  to 
which  the  refugees  devoted  themselves,  and  in  which 
they  achieved  both  fame  and  wealth,  was  the  silk 
manufacture  in  all  its  branches.  The  silk  fabrics  of 
France — its  satins,  brocades,  velvets,  paduasoys,  figured 
and  plain — were  celebrated  throughout  the  world,  and 
were  eagerly  purchased.  As  much  as  200,000  livres 
worth  of  black  lustrings  were  annually  bought  by  the 
English.  They  were  made  expressly  for  their  market, 
and  were  known  as  "  English  tafFeties."  Shortly  after 
the  Revocation,  not  only  was  the  whole  of  this  fabric 
made  in  England,  but  large  quantities  were  manufac- 
tured for  foreign  exportation. 

The  English  government  had  long  envied  France 
her  possession  of  the  silk  manufacture,  which  gave  em- 
ployment to  a  large  number  of  people,  and  was  a  source 

possessed  the  secret  of  the  liquid  which    was  lost   to   France  for 

composition  which  serves  to  pre-  about  forty  years.     During  this 

pare    rabbit,    hare,   and   beaver  period,  the  French  nobility,  and 

skins.   They  alone  supplied  Eng-  all  persons  making  pretensions 

land  and  Holland  with  fine  hats,  to  dress,  wore   none  but  English 

principally  from  Caudebec.  After  hats.     Even  the  Roman  cardinals 

the  Revocation,  most  of  the  hat-  got  their  hats  from  the  celebrated 

makers  went  to  London,  and  took  manufactory  at  Wandsworth,  es- 

with  them  the  secret  of  their  art,  tablished  by  the  refugees  I 


CHAP.  xv.         ROTAL  LUSTRING  COMPANY.  269 

of  much  wealth  to  the  country.  An  attempt  was 
made  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  to  introduce  the  manu- 
facture in  England,  and  it  was  repeated  in  the  reign  of 
James  I.  The  corporation  of  the  city  of  London  also 
encouraged  the  manufacture.  We  find  from  their  re- 
cords, that,  in  1609,  they  admitted  to  the  freedom  of 
the  city  one  Robert  Therie  or  Thierry,  on  account  of 
his  skill  and  invention ;  and  as  "  being  the  first  in 
England  who  hath  made  stuffes  of  silk,  the  which  was 
made  by  the  silkworm  nourished  here  in  England." 
One  M.  Brumelach  was  also  invited  over  from  France, 
with  sundry  silk  throwsters,  weavers,  and  dyers,  and 
a  beginning  was  made  in  the  manufacture ;  but  it 
was  not  until  the  influx  of  Protestant  refugees  after 
the  Revocation,  that  the  silk  manufacture  took  root 
and  began  to  flourish. 

The  workmen  of  Tours  and  Lyons  brought  with 
them  the  arts  which  had  raised  the  manufactures  of 
France  to  such  a  height  of  prosperity.  They  erected 
their  looms  in  Spitalfields,  and  there  practised  their 
modes  of  weaving, — turning  out  large  quantities  of 
lustrings,  velvets,  and  mingled  stuffs  of  silk  and  wool, 
of  such  excellence  as  to  insure  for  them  a  ready  sale 
everywhere.  Weiss  says  that  the  figured  silks  which 
proceeded  from  the  London  manufactories  were  due 
almost  exclusively  to  the  skill  and  industry  of  three 
refugees — Lanson,  Mariscot,  and  Monceaux.  The  artist 
who  supplied  the  designs  was  another  refugee,  named 
Beaudoin.  A  common  workman  named  Mongeorge 
brought  them  the  secret,  recently  discovered  at  Lyons, 
of  giving  lustre  to  silk  taffety ;  and  Spitalfields 
thenceforward  enjoyed  a  large  share  of  the  trade  for 
which  Lyons  had  been  so  famous. 

To  protect  the  English  manufactures,  the  import 
duties  on  French  silks  were  at  first  trebled.  In  1692, 
five  years  after  the  Revocation,  the  manufacturers  of 
lustrings  and  alamode  silks  were  incorporated  by 
charter  under  the  name  of  the  Royal  Lustring  Com- 
pany; shortly  after  which  they  obtained  from  Parlia- 


270  REV.   W.  LEES  MACHINES.  CHAP.  xv. 

ment  an  Act  entirely  prohibiting  the  importation  of 
foreign  goods  of  like  sorts.  Strange  to  say,  one  of  the 
grounds  on  which  they  claimed  this  degree  of  protec- 
tion was,  that  the  manufacture  of  these  articles  in 
England  had  now  reached  a  greater  degree  of  per- 
fection than  was  attained  by  foreigners, — a  reason 
which  ought  to  have  rendered  them  independent  of 
all  legislative  interference  in  their  favour.  Certain 
it  is,  however,  that  by  the  end  of  the  century  the 
French  manufacturers  in  England  were  not  only  able 
to  supply  the  whole  of  the  English  demand,  but  to 
export  considerable  quantities  of  their  goods  to  those 
countries  which  France  had  formerly  supplied. 

One  of  the  most  remunerative  branches  of  business 
was  the  manufacture  of  silk  stockings,  which  the  Eng- 
lish then  shared  with  the  French  artizans.  This  trade 
was  due  to  the  invention  of  the  stocking-frame  by 
William  Lee,  M.A.,  about  the  year  1600.  Not  being 
able  to  find  any  encouragement  for  his  invention  in 
England,  he  went  over  to  Rouen  in  1605,  on  the  invi- 
tation of  the  French  minister  Sully, — to  instruct  the 
French  operatives  in  the  construction  and  working  of 
the  machine.  Nine  of  the  frames  were  in  full  work, 
and  Lee  enjoyed  a  prospect  of  honour  and  competency, 
when,  unhappily  for  him,  his  protector,  Henry  IV.,  was 
assassinated  by  the  fanatic  Ravaillac.  The  patronage 
which  had  been  extended  to  him  was  at  once  with- 
drawn, on  which  Lee  proceeded  to  Paris  to  press  his 
claims  upon  the  government.  But  he  had  the  misfor- 
tune to  be  a  foreigner,  and,  worst  of  all,  a  Protestant. 
His  claims  were  therefore  disregarded,  and  he  shortly 
after  died  at  Paris  in  extreme  distress. 

Two  of  Lee's  machines  were  left  at  Rouen  ;  the  rest 
were  brought  over  to  England  ;  and  in  course  of  time, 
considerable  improvements  were  made  in  the  inven- 
tion. The  stocking-trade  became  so  considerable  a 
branch  of  business,  that  in  1654  we  find  the  frame- 
work-knitters petitioning  Oliver  Cromwell  to  grant 
them  a  charter  of  incorporation.  The  Protector  did 


CHAP.  xv.  GLASS-MAKING.  271 

not  confer  upon  them  the  monopoly  of  manufacture 
which  they  sought.  Accordingly,  when  the  French 
refugees  settled  amongst  us,  they  were  as  free  to  make 
use  of  Lee's  invention  as  the  English  themselves  were. 
Hence  the  manufacture  of  silk  hosiery  by  the  stocking- 
frame,  soon  became  a  leading  branch  of  trade  in 
Spitalfields,  and  English  hose  were  in  demand  all 
over  Europe.  Keysler,  the  traveller,  writing  as  late  as 
1730,  remarks  that  "at  Naples,  when  a  tradesman 
would  highly  recommend  his  silk  stockings,  he  in- 
variably protests  that  they  are  right  English." 

In  a  petition  presented  to  Parliament  by  the 
weavers'  company  in  1713,  it  was  stated  that  owing 
to  the  encouragement  afforded  by  the  Crown  and  by 
divers  Acts  of  the  legislature,  the  silk  manufacture  at 
that  time  was  twenty  times  greater  in  amount  than  it 
had  been  in  16G4  ;  that  all  sorts  of  black  and  coloured 
silks,  gold  and  silver  stuffs,  and  ribands  were  made 
here  as  good  as  those  of  French  fabric ;  that  black  silk 
for  hoods  and  scarfs,  which,  twenty-five  years  before, 
was  all  imported,  was  now  made  here  to  the  annual 
value  of  £300,000,  whereby  a  great  increase  had  been 
occasioned  in  the  exportation  of  woollen  and  other 
manufactured  goods  to  Turkey  and  Italy,  whence  the 
raw  silk  was  imported.  Such,  amongst  others,  were 
the  effects  of  the  settlement  in  London  of  the  French 
refugee  artizans. 

Although  the  manufacture  of  glass  had  been  intro- 
duced into  England  before  the  arrival  of  the  French 
artizans,  it  made  comparatively  small  progress  until 
they  took  it  in  hand.  Mr.  Pellatt,  in  his  lecture  on 
the  manufacture  of  glass,  delivered  before  the  Royal 
Institution,  attributed  the  establishment  of  the  manu- 
facture to  the  Huguenot  refugees, — most  of  the  technical 
terms  still  used  in  glass-making  being  derived  from 
the  French.  Thus,  the  "  found  "  is  the  melting  of  the 
materials  into  glass,  from  the  French  word  fondre. 
The  "  siege  "  is  the  place  or  seat  in  which  the  crucible 
stands.  The  "  kinney  "  is  the  corner  of  the  furnace, 


272  PAPER-VAKIXti.  CHAP.  xv. 

probably  from  coin  or  chemintfe.  The  "journey," 
denoting  the  time  of  making  glass  from  the  beginning 
of  the  "found,"  is  obviously  fromjourntfe.  The  "fou- 
shart,"  or  fork  used  to  move  the  sheet  of  glass  into  the 
annealing-kiln,  is  from  fourchette,  The  "  marmre  "  is 
the  slab,  formerly  of  marble,  but  now  of  iron,  on  which 
the  ball  of  hot  glass  is  rolled.  And  so  on  with  "  cullet  " 
(coule — glass  run  off,  or  broken  glass),  "  pontil " 
(pointfo) ;  and  other  words  obviously  of  French  and 
Flemish  origin. 

The  Parisian  glass-makers  were  especially  celebrated 
for  the  skill  with  which  they  cast  large  plates  for 
mirrors ;  and,  shortly  after  the  Revocation,  when  a 
large  number  of  these  valuable  workmen  took  refuge 
in  England,  a  branch  of  that  manufacture  was  estab- 
lished by  Abraham  Thavenart,  which  proved  highly 
successful.  Other  works  were  started  for  the  making 
of  crystal,  in  which  the  French  greatly  excelled ;  and 
before  long,  not  only  were  they  able  to  supply  the 
home  market,  but  to  export  large  quantities  of  glass  of 
the  best  sorts  to  Holland  and  other  European  countries. 

For  the  improvement  of  English  paper,  also,  we 
are  largely  indebted  to  the  refugees — to  the  master 
manufacturers  and  their  artizans  who  swarmed  over  to 
England  from  the  paper-mills  of  Angoumois.  Before 
the  Revocation,  the  paper  made  in  this  country  was 
of  the  common  "  whitey-brown  "  sort — coarse  and 
inelegant.  All  the  best  sorts  were  imported  from 
abroad,  mostly  from  France.  But  soon  after  the 
Revocation,  the  import  of  paper  ceased,  and  the  refu- 
gees were  able  to  supply  us  with  as  good  an  article 
as  could  be  bought  elsewhere.  The  first  manufactory 
for  fine  paper  was  established  by  the  refugees  in 
London  in  1685 ;  but  other  mills  were  shortly  after 
begun  by  them  in  Kent,  at  Maidstone  and  along  the 
Darent,  as  well  as  in  other  parts  of  England.1  That 

1  The  Patent    Office    Records      French  exiles  in  the  province  of 
clearly  show  the  activity  of  the      invention,  by  the  numerous  p.i- 


CHAP.  xv.  THE  DE  PORTALS.  273 


the  leading  workmen  employed  in  the  first  fine-paper 
mills  were  French  and  Flemish  is  shown  by  the  dis- 
tinctive terms  of  the  trade  still  in  use.  Thus,  in 
Kent,  the  man  who  lays  the  sheets  on  the  felts  is  the 
coucher ;  the  fateman,  or  vatman,  is  the  Flemish  f ass- 
man  ;  and  the  room  where  the  finishing  operations  are 
performed  is  still  called  the  satte. 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  refugee  paper- 
manufacturers,  was  Henry  de  Portal.  The  Portals 
were  an  ancient  and  noble  family  in  the  South  of 
France,  of  Albigeois  descent,  who  stood  firm  by  the 
faith  of  their  fathers.  Several  of  them  suffered 
death  rather  than  recant.  Toulouse  was  for  many 
generations  the  home  of  the  Portals,  where  they  held 
and  exercised  the  highest  local  authority.  Several 
of  them  in  succession  were  elected  "Capitoul,"  a 
position  of  great  dignity  and  power  in  that  city. 
When  the  persecution  of  the  Albigeois  set  in,  the  De 
Portals  put  themselves  at  their  head ;  but  they  were 
unable  to  stand  against  the  tremendous  power  of  the 
Inquisition.  They  fled  from  Toulouse  in  different 
directions — some  to  Nismes,  and  others  into  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Bordeaux.  Some  of  them  perished  in  the 
massacres  which  occurred  throughout  France  subse- 
quent to  the  night  of  Saint  Bartholomew  at  Paris; 
and  they  continued  to  suffer  during  the  century  that 
ended  in  the  Revocation;  yet  still  they  remained 
constant  to  their  faith. 

When  the  reign  of  terror  began  in  the  South  of 
France,  under  Louis  XVI.,  Louis  de  Portal  was  residing 

tents    taken    out  by    them  for  de  Grouchy,  J.  de  May,  and  R. 

printing,      spinning,      weaving,  Shales,  taking  out  a   patent  for 

paper-making,  and    other    arts.  making    writing    and    printing 

Such  names  as  Blondeau,  Dupin,  paper,    having  "  lately    brought 

De  Cardonels,  Le  Blon,  Ducleu,  out  of  France  excellent  workmen 

Pousset,  Gastineau,  Couran,  Paul,  and  already  set  up  several  new- 

etc.,  are    found    constantly  re-  invented  mills  and    engines  for 

curring  in  the  lists  of  patentees  making  thereof,  not  heretofore 

for  many  years  subsequent  to  the  used  in  England." — [See  Abridg- 

Revocation.     In  1686  we  find  M.  ment  of  Specifications  relating  to 

Dupin,  A.  de  Cardonels,  C.  R.  M.  Printing,  p.  82.] 

18 


274  THE  DE  PORTALS.  CHAP.  xv. 

at  his  Chateau  de  la  Portalerie,  seven  leagues  from 
Bordeaux.  To  escape  the  horrors  of  the  dragonnades, 
he  set  out  with  his  wife  and  five  children  to  take 
refuge  on  his  estate  in  the  Cevennes.  The  dragoons 
pursued  the  family  to  their  retreat,  overtook  them,  and 
cut  down  the  father,  mother,  and  one  of  the  children. 
They  also  burnt  to  the  ground  the  house  in  which 
they  had  taken  refuge.  The  remaining  four  children 
concealed  themselves  in  an  oven  outside  the  building, 
and  were  thus  saved. 

The  four  orphans — three  boys  and  a  girl — immedi- 
ately determined  to  make  for  the  coast  and  escape 
from  France  by  sea.  After  a  long  and  perilous  journey 
on  foot — exhausted  by  fatigue  and  wanting  food — they 
at  length  reached  Montauban,  where  little  Pierre,  the 
youngest,  fell  down  fainting  with  hunger  at  the  door  of 
a  baker's  shop.  The  humane  baker  took  up  the  child, 
carried  him  into  the  house,  and  fed  and  cherished 
him.  The  other  three — Henry,  William,  and  Mary  de 
Portal — though  grieving  to  leave  their  brother  behind 
them,  again  set  out  on  foot,  and  pressed  onward  to 
Bordeaux. 

They  were  so  fortunate  as  to  secure  a  passage  by  a 
merchant- vessel,  on  board  of  which  they  were  shipped, 
concealed  in  barrels.  They  were  among  the  last  of 
the  refugees  who  escaped,  previous  to  the  issue  of  the 
infamous  order  to  fumigate  all  departing  vessels,  so  as  to 
stifle  any  Protestant  fugitives  who  might  be  concealed 
in  the  cargo.  The  youthful  refugees  reached  Holland, 
where  they  found  friends  and  foster-parents,  and  were 
shortly  in  a  position  to  assert  the  dignity  of  their 
birth.  Miss  Portal  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  situation 
as  governess  in  the  family  of  the  Countess  of  Finken- 
stein.  She  afterwards  married  M.  Lenormant,  a  refugee 
settled  at  Amsterdam ;  while  Henry  and  William  fol- 
lowed the  fortunes  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  accom- 
panied him  into  England,  and  established  the  family  of 
De  Portal  in  this  country. l 

1  William  entered   the   church  late  in  life.     He  was  nominated 


CHAP.  xv.  THE  DE  PORTALS.  275 

Henry,  the  elder  brother,  having  learnt  the  art  of 
paper-making,  started  a  mill  of  his  own  at  Laverstoke 
on  the  Itchin,  near  Whitchurch  in  Hampshire,  where 
he  achieved  high  reputation  as  a  paper-manufacturer. 
He  carried  on  his  business  with  great  spirit,  gather- 
ing round  him  the  best  French  and  Dutch  workmen. 
He  shortly  brought  his  work  to  so  high  a  degree  of 
perfection,  that  the  Bank  of  England  gave  him  the 
privilege,  which  a  descendant  of  the  family  still  enjoys, 
of  supplying  them  with  the  paper  for  bank-notes. 
Henry  de  Portal  had  resolved  to  rebuild  the  fortunes 
of  his  house  on  English  ground ;  and  he  did  it  nobly 
by  his  skill,  his  integrity,  and  his  industry. 

The  De  Portals  of  Freefolk  Priors  re-established 
themselves  among  the  aristocratic  order  to  which 
they  originally  belonged  ;  and  their  sons  and  daughters 
formed  alliances  with  some  of  the  noblest  families  in 
England.  The  youngest  brother,  Pierre  de  Portal, 
who  had  been  left  fainting  at  the  door  of  the  baker 
at  Montauban,  was  brought  up  to  manhood  by  the 
baker,  held  to  his  Protestantism,  and  eventually  set 
up  as  a  cloth-manufacturer  in  France.  He  prospered, 
married,  and  his  sons  grew  up  around  him,  one  of  them 
eventually  becoming  lord  of  Penardieres.  His  grandson 
Alberedes,  also  faithful  to  the  creed  of  his  fathers,  rose 
to  high  office,  having  been  appointed  minister  of 
marine  and  the  colonies,  councillor  of  state,  and  a  peer 
of  France,  at  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons.  The 
present  baron,  Pierre  Paul  Frederick  de  Portal,  main- 
tains the  ancient  reputation  of  the  family;  and  to  his 
highly  interesting  work,  entitled  Les  Descendants  des 
Albigeois  et  des  Huguenots,  ou  Mrfmoires  de  la  Famille 
de  Portal  (Paris  18GO),  we  are  mainly  indebted  for  the 
above  facts  relating  to  the  family. 

"Various  other  branches  of  manufacture  were  either 

tutor   to   Prince   George,   after-  ham  Portal,  whose  poetical  works 

wards  George  III.,  and  held  the  were  published  in  1781,  was  hia 

livings  of  Clowne  in  Derbyshire,  grandson, 
and  Farnbridge  in  Essex.     Abra- 


276      OTHER  MANUFACTURES  ESTABLISHED.   CHAP.  xv. 

established  or  greatly  improved  by  the  refugees.  At 
Canterbury  they  swelled  the  ranks  of  the  silk-manu- 
facturers; so  much  so,  that  in  1694  they  possessed 
1000  looms,  giving  employment  to  nearly  3000  work- 
men,— though,  for  the  convenience  of  the  trade,  the 
greater  number  of  them  subsequently  removed  to 
Spitalfields.  Many  of  the  immigrants  also  found  their 
way  to  Norwich,  where  they  carried  on  with  great 
success  the  manufacture  of  lustrings,  brocades,  padua- 
soys,  tabinets,  and  velvets  ;  while  others  carried  on  the 
making  of  cutlery,  clocks,  and  watches.  The  fifty 
years  that  followed  the  settlement  of  the  French 
refugees  in  Norwich,  formed  the  most  prosperous 
period  in  the  history  of  that  city.  Another  body  of 
refugees  settled  at  Ipswich  in  1681,  where  they  began 
the  manufacture  of  fine  linen,  before  then  imported 
from  France.  The  elders  and  deacons  of  the  French 
church  in  Threadneedle  Street  raised  the  necessary 
funds  for  their  support  until  they  could  maintain 
themselves  by  their  industry.  They  were  organised 
and  superintended  by  a  refugee  from  Paris  named 
Bonhomme,1  one  of  the  most  skilled  manufacturers  in 
France.  To  the  manufacture  of  linen,  another  of  sail- 
cloth was  added,  and  England  was  enabled  entirely  to 
dispense  with  any  further  supply  of  the  foreign-made 
article. 

The  lace-manufacture,  introduced  originally  by  the 
Walloon  refugees,  was  also  increased  and  improved  by 
the  influx  of  Huguenot  lace-makers,  principally  from 
Burgundy  and  Normandy.  Some  established  them- 
selves in  London,  while  others  betook  themselves  to  the 
adjoining  counties — settling  at  Buckingham,  Newport- 
Pagnel,  and  Stony  Stratford,  from  whence  the  manu- 


1  In   1681,  Savil   wrote  from  "  This  man  will  be  able  to  give 

Paris  to  Jenkins,  then  Secretary  you  some  lights  into  the  method 

of   State,   to  announce  the  ap-  of  bringing  the  manufacture  of 

preaching     departure    of     Bon-  sail-cloth  in  England." 
homme  and  all  his  family,  adding, 


CHAP.  xv.        MANUFACTURES  IN  SCOTLAND.  277 

facture  extended  into  Oxford,  Northampton,  Cambridge, 
and  the  adjoining  counties. 

Some  of  the  exiles  went  as  far  north  as  Scotland, 
and  settled  there.  Thus,  a  colony  of  weavers  from 
Picardy,  in  France,  began  the  manufacture  of  linen  in 
a  suburb  of  Edinburgh  near  the  head  of  Leith  Walk, 
long  after  known  as  "  Little  Picardy," — the  name  still 
surviving  in  Picardy  Place.  Others  of  them  built  a 
silk-factory,  and  laid  out  a  mulberry  plantation  on  the 
slope  of  Moultrie  Hill,  then  an  open  common.  The 
refugees  were  sufficiently  numerous  in  Edinburgh  to 
form  a  church,  of  which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dupont  was 
appointed  minister;  and  William  III.,  in  1693, granted 
to  the  city  a  duty  of  two  pennies  on  each  pint  of  ale, 
out  of  which  2000  marks  were  to  be  paid  yearly  to- 
wards the  maintenance  of  the  ministers  of  the  French 
congregation.  At  Glasgow,  one  of  the  refugees  succeeded 
in  establishing  a  paper-mill,  the  first  in  that  part  of 
Scotland.  The  Huguenot  who  erected  it  escaped  from 
France  accompanied  only  by  his  little  daughter.  For 
some  time  after  his  arrival  in  Glasgow,  he  maintained 
himself  by  picking  up  rags  in  the  streets.  But,  by 
dint  of  thrift  and  diligence,  he  eventually  contrived  to 
accumulate  sufficient  means  to  enable  him  to  start  his 
paper-mill,  and  thus  to  lay  the  foundation  of  an  impor- 
tant branch  of  Scottish  industry. 

In  short,  there  was  scarcely  a  branch  of  trade  in 
Great  Britain,  but  at  once  felt  the  beneficial  effects  of 
the  large  influx  of  experienced  workmen  from  France. 
Besides  improving  those  manufactures  which  had  al- 
ready been  established,  they  introduced  many  entirely 
new  branches  of  industry;  and  by  their  skill,  their 
intelligence,  and  their  laboriousness,  they  richly  repaid 
England  for  the  hospitality  and  the  asylum  which  had 
been  so  generously  extended  to  them  in  their  time  of 
need. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE   HUGUENOT   CHURCHES   IN    ENGLAND. 

THE  vast  number  of  French  Protestants  who  fled  into 
England  on  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  led 
to  a  large  increase  in  the  number  of  French  churches. 
This  was  especially  the  case  in  London,  which  was  the 
principal  seat  of  the  immigration.  It  may  serve  to 
give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  large  admixture  of 
Huguenot  blood  in  the  London  population,  when  we 
state  that  about  the  beginning  of  last  century,  at  which 
time  the  population  of  the  metropolis  was  not  one- 
fourth  of  what  it  is  now,  there  were  no  fewer  than 
thirty-five  French  churches  in  London  and  the  sub- 
urbs. Of  these,  eleven  were  in  Spitalfields,  showing 
the  preponderance  of  the  French  settlers  in  that 
quarter. 

The  French  church  in  Threadneedle  Street,  the 
oldest  in  London,  was  in  a  measure  the  cathedral 
church  of  the  Huguenots.  Thither  the  refugees  usually 
repaired  on  their  arrival  in  London,  and  such  of  them 
as  had  been  compelled  to  abj  ure  their  faith,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  penalty  of  death  or  condemnation  to  the  gal- 
leys, there  made  acknowledgment  of  their  repentance, 
and  were  again  received  into  membership.  During 
the  years  immediately  following  the  Revocation,  the 
consistory  of  the  French  church  met  at  least  once 
every  week  in  Threadneedle  Street  chapel,  for  the 
purpose  of  receiving  such  acknowledgments  or  "  re- 
connaissances." The  ministers  heard  the  narratives  of 
the  trials  of  the  refugees,  examined  their  testimony, 


CHAP.  XVT.  HUGUENOT  CHURCHES  IN  LONDON.  279 

and,  when  judged  worthy,  received  them  into  com- 
munion. At  the  sitting  of  the  5th  of  March,  1686, 
tifty  fugitives  from  various  provinces  of  France  ab- 
jured the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  to  which  they  had 
pretended  to  be  converted ;  and  at  one  of  the  sittings 
in  May,  1687,  not  fewer  than  497  members  were  again 
received  into  the  church  which  they  had,  under  the 
force  of  terror,  pretended  to  abandon. 

While  the  church  in  Threadneedle  Street  was  thus 
resorted  to  by  the  Huguenot  Calvinists,  the  French 
Episcopal  church  in  the  Savoy,  opened  about  the  year 
1641,  was  similarly  resorted  to  by  the  foreign  Protes- 
tants of  the  Lutheran  persuasion.  This  was  the 
fashionable  French  church  of  the  West-end,  and  was 
resorted  to  by  many  of  the  nobility,  who  were  attracted 
by  the  eloquence  of  the  preachers  who  usually  minis- 
tered there ;  amongst  whom  we  recognise  the  great 
names  of  Durrel,  Severin,  Abbadie,  Saurin,  Dubourdieu, 
Majendie,  and  Durand.  There  were  also  the  following 
French  churches  in  the  western  parts  of  London  : — The 
chapel  of  Marylebone,  founded  about  the  year  1656; 
the  chapel  in  Somerset  House,  originally  granted  by 
Charles  I.  to  his  queen  Henrietta  as  a  Roman  Catholic 
place  of  worship,  but  which  was  afterwards  appropri- 
ated by  Parliament,  in  1653,  for  the  use  of  the  French 
Protestants  ;  Castle  Street  Chapel  in  Leicester  Square, 
erected  at  the  expense  of  the  government  in  1672  as  a 
place  of  worship  for  the  refugees;  the  Little  Savoy 
Chapel  in  the  Strand,  granted  for  the  same  purpose  in 
1675  ;  and  Hungerford  Chapel  in  Hungerford  Market, 
which  was  opened  as  a  French  church  in  1687. 

After  the  Re  volution  of  1688,  a  considerable  addition 
was  made  to  the  French  churches  at  the  West-end. 
Thus,  three  new  congregations  were  formed  in  the 
year  1689, — those  of  La  Patente,  in  Soho,  first  opened 
in  Berwick  Street,  from  whence  it  was  afterwards 
removed  to  Little  Chapel  Street,  Wardour  Street; 
Glasshouse  Street  Chapel,  Golden  Square,  from  whence 
it  was  afterwards  removed  to  Leicester  Fields ;  and  La 


280  HUGUENOT  CHURCHES  IN  LONDON.  CHAP.  xvi. 

Quarre'  (episcopal)  Chapel,  originally  of  Berwick  Street, 
and  afterwards  of  Little  Dean  Street,  Westminster. 

Another  important  French  church  at  the  West-end 
was  that  of  Swallow  Street,  Piccadilly.1  The  congre- 
gation had  originally  worshipped  in  the  French  am- 
bassador's chapel  in  Monmouth  House,  Soho  Square; 
from  whence  they  removed  to  Swallow  Street  in  1690. 
From  the  records  of  the  church,  which  are  preserved  at 
Somerset  House,  it  would  appear  that  Swallow  Street 
was  in  the  west,  what  Threadneedle  Street  Church  was 
in  the  east  of  London, — the  place  first  resorted  to  by 
the  refugee  Protestants  to  make  acknowledgment  of 
their  blackslidings,  and  to  claim  re-admission  to  church 
membership.  Hence  the  numerous  "  reconnaissances  " 
found  recorded  in  the  Swallow  Street  register. 

About  the  year  1700,  there  was  another  large  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  French  churches  in  London, 
six  more  being  added  to  those  already  specified — 
namely,  L'Eglise  du  Tabernacle,  afterwards  removed  to 
Leicester  Fields  Chapel ;  the  French  Chapel  Royal,  St. 
James's ;  Les  Grecs,  in  Hog  Lane,  now  Crown  Street, 
Soho;  Spring  Gardens  Chapel,  or  the  Little  Savoy; 
La  Charenton,  in  Grafton  Street,  Newport  Market; 
and  La  Tremblade,  or  West  Street  Chapel,  St  Giles's. 
About  the  same  date,  additional  church  accommodation 
was  provided  for  the  refugees  in  the  city ;  one  chapel 
having  been  opened  in  Blackfriars,  and  another  in  St. 
Martin's  Lane,  of  which  the  celebrated  Dr.  Allix  was 
pastor.  With  the  latter  chapel,  known  as  the  church 
of  St.  Martin  Ongars,  that  of  Threadneedle  Street  was 
eventually  united. 

But  the  principal  increase  in  the  French  churches 
about  that  time  was  in  the  eastern  parts  of  London, 
where  the  refugees  of  the  manufacturing  class  had 
for  the  most  part  settled.  The  large  influx  of  foreign 
Protestants  is  strikingly  shown  by  the  amount  of  new 


1  The  chapel  was  sold  to  Dr.  James  Anderson  in  1710,  and  is  now 
used  as  a  Scotch  church. 


CHAP.  xvi.          CHURCHES  IX  SPITALFIELDS.  281 

chapels  required  for  their  accommodation.  Thus,  in 
Spitalfields  and  the  adjoining  districts,  wo  find  the 
following  : — L'Eglise  de  St.  Jean,  Swan  Fields,  Shore- 
ditch  (1687);  La  Nouvelle  Patente,  Crispin  Street, 
Spitalfields  (1689);  L'Eglise  de  1'Artillerie,  Artillery 
Street,  Bishopsgate  (1691) ;  L'Eglise  de  Crispin  Street, 
Spitalfields  (1693) ;  Petticoat  Lane  Chapel,  Spitaltields 
(1694)  ;  L'Eglise  de  Perle  Street,  Spitalfields  (1697), 
afterwards  incorporated  with  Crispin  Street  Chapel; 
the  French  Church  of  Wapping  (1700) ;  L'Eglise  de 
Bell  Lane,  Spitalfields  (1700);  L'Eglise  de  Wheler 
Street,  Spitalfields  (1703),  afterwards  incorporated  with 
La  Nouvelle  Patente  ;  L'Eglise  de  Swan  Fields,  Slaugh- 
ter Street,  Shoreditch  (1721);  L'Eglise  de  l'H6pital, 
afterwards  L'Eglise  Neuve,  Church  Street,  Spitalfields 
(1742).  Here  we  have  no  fewer  than  eleven  French 
churches  opened  east  of  Bishopsgate  Street,  providing 
accommodation  for  a  very  large  number  of  worship- 
pers. The  church  last  named,  L'Eglise  Neuve,  was 
probably  the  largest  of  the  French  places  of  worship 
in  London,  being  capable  of  accommodating  about 
1500  persons.  It  is  now  used  as  a  chapel  by  the 
Wesleyan  Methodists ;  while  the  adjoining  church  of 
the  Artillery  is  used  as  a  poor  Jews'  synagogue. 

In  addition  to  the  French  churches  in  the  city,  at 
the  West-end,  and  in  the  Spitalfields  district,  there 
were  several  thriving  congregations  in  the  suburban 
districts  of  London  in  which  the  refugees  had  settled. 
One  of  the  oldest  of  these  was  that  of  Wands  worth, 
where  a  colony  of  Protestant  Walloons  settled  about 
the  year  1570.  Having  formed  themselves  into  a  con- 
gregation, they  erected  a  chapel,  for  worship,  which  is 
still  standing,  nearly  opposite  the  parish  church.  The 
building  bears  this  inscription  on  its  front : — "  Erected 
1573— enlarged  1685— repaired  1809, 1831."  Like  the 
other  refugee  churches,  it  has  ceased  to  retain  its 
distinctive  character,  being  now  used  as  a  Congrega- 
tional chapel.  The  Huguenots  had  also  a  special 
burying-ground  at  Wandsworth,  called  "  Mount  Nod  " 


282     HUGUENOT  CHURCHES  NEAR  LONDON.  CHAP.  xn. 

It  is  situated  on  East  Hill ;  and  contains  the  remains 
of  many  distinguished  refugees — amongst  others,  of 
David  Montolieu,  Baron  de  St.  Hyppolite. 

Several  other  French  churches  were  established  in 
the  suburbs  after  the  Revocation.  At  Chelsea,  the 
refugees  had  two  chapels — one  in  Cook's  Grounds  (now 
used  by  the  Congregationalists),  and  another  in  Little 
Chelsea.  There  were  French  churches  also  at  Ham- 
mersmith, at  Hoxton,1  at  Bow,  and  at  Greenwich. 
The  last  named  was  erected  through  the  influence  of 
the  Marquis  de  Ruvigny,  who  formed  the  centre  of  a 
select  circle  of  refugee  Protestants  who  long  continued 
to  inhabit  the  neighbou rhood .  Before  their  little  church 
was  ready  for  use,  the  refugees  were  allowed  the  use  of 
the  parish  church,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  forenoon 
service  on  Sundays.  Evelyn,  in  his  Diary,  makes  men- 
tion of  his  attending  the  French  service  there  in  1687, 
as  well  as  the  sermon  which  followed,  in  which  he 
says :  "  The  preacher  pathetically  exhorted  to  patience, 
constancy,  and  reliance  on  God,  amidst  all  their  suf- 
ferings." The  French  church,  which  was  afterwards 
erected  in  London  Street,  not  far  from  the  Greenwich 
parish  church,  was  recently  used  as  a  Baptist  chapel. 

The  other  French  chapels  throughout  the  kingdom, 
like  those  of  London,  received  a  large  accession  of 
members  after  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
and  in  many  cases  became  too  small  for  their  accom- 
modation. Hence  a  second  French  church  was  opened 
at  Canterbury  in  a  place  called  "The  Malt-house," 
situated  within  the  Cathedral  precincts.  It  consisted 
at  first  of  about  300  persons;  but  the  Canterbury 
silk  trade  having  been  removed  to  Spitalfields,  the 
greater  number  of  the  French  weavers  followed  it 
thither;  on  which  the  Malthouse  Chapel  rapidly  fell 
off,  and  at  length  became  extinct  about  the  middle  of 
last  century. 

1  Of  this  church  Jacob  Bour-  Register  are  those  of  Romilly, 
dillon  was  the  last  pastor.  Among  Cossart,  Faure,  Durand,  Hankey, 
the  names  appearing  in  the  Vidal,  and  Fargues. 


CHAP.  xvi.  "  GOD'S  HOUSE"  AT  SOUTHAMPTON.  283 

The  old  French  church  of  "God's  House"  at 
Southampton  also  received  a  considerable  accession 
of  members,  chiefly  fugitives  from  the  provinces  of 
the  opposite  sea-board.  The  oi'ginal  Walloon  element 
had  by  this  time  almost  entirely  disappeared, — the 
immigrants  of  a  century  before  having  become  gra- 
dually absorbed  into  the  native  population.  Hence 
nearly  all  the  entries  in  the  registers  of  the  church, 
subsequent  to  the  year  1685,  describe  the  members 
as  "  Francois  refugiez " ;  some  being  from  "  Basse 
Normandie,"  others  from  "  Haute  Languedoc,"  but  the 
greater  number  from  the  province  of  Poitou. 

Numerous  refugee  military  officers,  retired  from 
active  service,  seem  to  have  settled  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Southampton  about  the  beginning  of  last 
century.  Henry  de  Ruvigny,  the  venerable  Earl  of 
Galway,  lived  at  Rookley,  and  formed  the  centre  of 
a  distinguished  circle  of  refugee  gentry.  The  Baron 
de  Huningue  also  lived  in  the  town,  and  was  so  much 
respected  and  beloved,  that  at  his  death  he  was 
honoured  with  a  public  funeral.  We  also  find  the 
families  of  the  De  Chavernoys  and  De  Cosnes  settled 
in  the  place.  The  register  of  "  God's  House  "  contains 
frequent  entries  relating  to  officers  in  "  Colonel  Mor- 
dant's regiment."  On  one  occasion  we  find  Brigadier 
Mordant  standing  sponsor  for  the  twin  sons  of  Major 
Fran9ois  du  Chesne  de  Ruffanes,  major  of  infantry; 
and  on  another,  the  Earl  of  Galway  standing  sponsor 
for  the  infant  son  of  Pierre  de  Cosne,  a  refugee 
gentleman  of  La  Beauce.  From  the  circumstance  of 
Gerard  de  Vaux,  the  owner  of  a  paper-mill  in  South 
Stoneham,  being  a  member  of  the  congregation,  we 
also  infer  that  several  of  the  settlers  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Southampton  were  engaged  in  that 
branch  of  manufacture. 

Among  the  new  French  churches  formed  in  places 
where  there  had  been  none  before,  and  which  mark 
the  new  settlements  that  followed  the  fresh  influx  of 
refugees,  may  be  mentioned  those  of  Bristol,  Exeter, 


284  COUNTRY  HUGUENOT  CHURCHES.    CHAP.  xvi. 

Plymouth,  Stonehouse,  Dartmouth,  Barnstaple,  and 
Thorpe-le-Soken  in  Essex. 

The  French  Episcopal  Church  at  Bristol  seems  at 
one  time  to  have  been  of  considerable  importance.  It 
was  instituted  in  1687,1  and  was  first  held  in  what  is 
called  the  Mayor's  Chapel  of  St.  Mark  the  Gaunt ;  but 
in  1726  a  chapel  was  built  for  the  special  use  of  the 
French  congregation  on  the  ground  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's Hospital  for  the  Red  Maids,  situated  in  Orchard 
Street.  The  chapel,  at  its  first  opening,  was  so  crowded 
with  worshippers,  that  the  aisles,  as  well  as  the  altar- 
place,  had  to  be  fitted  with  benches  for  their  accom- 
modation. From  the  register  of  the  church,  it  would 
appear  that  the  Bristol  refugees  consisted  principally 
of  seafaring  people — captains,  masters,  and  sailors — • 
from  Nantes,  Saumur,  Saintonge,  La  Rochelle,  and  the 
Isle  of  Rhd 

The  congregations  formed  at  Plymouth  and  Stone- 
house,  as  well  as  Dartmouth,  were  in  like  manner,  for 
the  most  part  composed  of  sailors;  whilst  those  at 
Exeter  were,  on  the  other  hand,  principally  trades- 
people and  artizans  employed  in  the  tapestry  manu- 
facture carried  on  in  the  city.  M.  Majendie,  grand- 
father of  Dr.  Majendie,  Bishop  of  Chester,  was  one  of 
the  ministers  of  the  Exeter  congregation;  and  Tom 
D'Urfey,  the  song-writer,  was  the  son  of  one  of  the 
refugees  settled  in  the  place. 

The  settlement  at  Thorpe-le-Soken  in  Essex  seems 
to  have  been  a  comparatively  small  one,  consisting 
principally  of  refugee  gentry  and  farmers ;  but  they 
were  in  sufficient  numbers  to  constitute  a  church,  of 

1  The  refugees  had  begun  to  from  the  Corporation  of  Bristol, 

settle  at  Bristol  in  considerable  proposing   that   the   fines   then 

numbers  before  this  time.    The  levied  on  Dissenters  in  the  city 

reviewer  of  the  first  edition  of  should  be  appropriated    to  the 

this    book    in    the    Evangelical  relief  of  French  Protestants  just 

Magazine    for    January,     says :  settled  there.    Many  readers  will 

"  We   have  noticed    among  the  regard  this  as  an  illustration  of 

documents  at  the  Record  Office  the  old  saying  of  robbing  Peter 

a  curious  paper,  sent  up  in  1682  to  pay  Paul." 


CHAP.  xvi.  DECLINE  OF  THE  REFUGEE  CHURCHES.  285 

which  M.  Severin,  who  afterwards  removed  to  Green- 
wich, was  the  first  minister.  The  church  was  closed 
"  for  want  of  members  "  about  the  year  1726.  As  was 
the  case  at  many  other  places,  the  Thorpe-le-Soken 
refugees  gradually  ceased  to  be  French. 

There  was  also  a  French  church  at  Thorney  Abbey, 
of  the  origin  of  which  nothing  is  known ;  but  it  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  formed  shortly  after  the  breaking 
up  of  the  Walloon  colony  at  Sandtoft,  Hatfield  Chace, 
Yorkshire,  in  the  time  of  the  Commonwealth,  when 
the  settlers  removed  southward.  The  names  of  the 
colonists  are  in  many  instances  the  same,  though  there 
are  others  which  do  not  occur  in  the  Sandtoft  register, 
probably  those  of  new  immigrants  from  the  Walloon 
provinces  and  from  the  northern  parts  of  France.  But 
it  does  not  appear  that  the  congregation  received  any 
accession  of  members  in  consequence  of  the  Revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  Like  the  other  churches  of 
the  same  kind,  the  members  gradually  became  absorbed 
in  the  general  population,  and  the  church  ceased  to 
exist  in  the  year  1727. 

Year  by  year  the  foreign  churches  declined,  even 
when  they  were  fed  by  fresh  immigrations  from  abroad. 
It  was  in  the  very  nature  of  things  that  the  rising 
generation  should  fall  away  from  them,  and  desire  to 
become  completedly  identified  with  the  nation  which 
nad  admitted  them  to  citizenship.  Hence  the  growing 
defections  in  country  places,  as  well  as  in  the  towns 
and  cities  where  the  refugees  had  settled ;  and  hence 
the  growing  complaints  of  the  falling  off  in  the  num- 
bers of  their  congregations  which  we  find  in  the 
sermons  and  addresses  of  the  refugee  pastors. 

About  the  middle  of  last  century,  the  thirty-five 
French  churches  in  London  and  its  suburbs  had  be- 
come reduced  to  a  comparatively  small  number ;  and  the 
sermons  of  the  French  pastors  were  full  of  lamenta- 
tions as  to  the  approaching  decadence  of  those  that  re- 
mained. This  feeling  was  given  eloquent  utterance  to 
by  the  Rev.  Jacob  Bourdillon,  minister  of  the  Artillery 


286  B  0  UJRDILL  ON'S  LAMENT  A  TION.      CHAP.  xvi. 

Church  in  Spitalfields,  on  the  occasion  of  the  jubilee 
sermon  which  he  preached  there  in  1782,  in  com- 
memoration of  his  fifty  years'  pastorate.1  He  had  been 
appointed  minister  of  the  congregation  when  it  was  a 
large  and  thriving  one  in  1731,  and  he  now  addressed 
but  a  feeble  remnant  of  what  it  had  been.  The 
old  members  had  died  off;  but  their  places  had  not 
been  supplied  by  the  young,  who  had  gone  in  search 
of  other  pastures.  It  was  the  same  with  all  the 
other  French  churches.  When  M.  Bourdillon  was 
appointed  minister  of  "  The  Artillery,"  fifty  years 
before,  there  had,  he  said,  been  twenty  flourishing 
French  churches  in  London,  nine  of  which  had  since 
been  altogether  closed  ;  while  of  the  remaining  eleven, 
some  were  fast  drawing  to  their  end,  others  were 
scarcely  able  to  exist  even  with  extraneous  help,  and 
very  few  were  in  a  position  to  support  themselves. 

The  causes  of  this  decadence  of  the  churches  of  the 
refugees,  were  not  far  to  seek.     The  preacher  found 

1  Men  of  great  eloquence  had  Barbauld,Couvenant,LaDouespe, 
been  ministers  of  the  Artillery  Du  Boulay. 
Church.      Amongst   these    were          Leicester    Fields,     Artillery, 
Caesar  Pegorier  (the  first  minister),  and    La  Patentc. — Blanc,   Bar- 
succeeded   by   Daniel    Chamier,  bauld,  Stehelin,  Micy,  Barnauin. 
Pierre  Eival,  Joseph  de  la  Mothe,          La  Tremblade. — Gillet,  Yver. 
and  Bzekiel  Barbauld.      During  Castle  Street  and  La  Quarre.— 
the  fifty  years  of  M.  Bourdillon's  Laval,  Bernard,  Cautier,  Kober 
pastorate,  fifty -two  ministers  of  Coderc. 

the  London  refugee  churches  had          La    Patente,     Spitalfields.  — 

died, — of  whom  six  had  been  his  Fourestier,   Manuel,    Balgnari6 

own  colleagues.     The  deceased  Masson. 

pastors,  whose  names  he  men-          Brown's  Lane. — La  Moyne. 
tioned,  as  well  as  the  churches          St.   John's    Street.  —  Vincent 

where  they  ministered,  were  as  Palairet,  Beuzeville. 
follows: —  Wapping. — Sally    de    Gaujae, 

Chapel  Royal,   St.  James's. —  Le   Beaupin    Bay,   Guizot,  Prel- 

The  Revs.  M.  Menard,  Aufrere,  leur. 
Series.    Eocheblanc,    De    Missy,          Swan  Fields. — Briel. 
Barbauld,  Muissotu  Pastors      of      other      French 

The  Savoy. — Olivier,  Du  Cros,  churches,  who  had  died  in  Lon- 

Durand,  Deschamps.  don. — Forent,    Majendie,    Ester- 

The  Walloon  Church,  Thread-  nod,     Montignac,     Du     Plessis. 

needle    Street. — Bertheau,    Bes-  Villette,  Duval. 
combes,  De  St.  Colombe,  Bonyer, 


CHAP.  xvi.  EXTINCTION  OF  HUGUENOT  CHURCHES.  287 

them  in  "  the  lack  of  zeal  and  faithfulness  in  the  heads 
of  families,  in  encouraging  their  children  to  maintain 
them — churches  which  their  ancestors  had  reared,  a 
glorious  monument  of  the  generous  sacrifice  which  they 
had  made,  of  their  country,  their  possessions,  and  their 
employments,  in  the  sacred  cause  of  conscience,  for  the 
open  profession  of  the  truth ;  whereas  now,"  said  he, 
"  through  the  growing  aversion  of  the  young  for  the 
language  of  their  fathers,  from  whom  they  seem  almost 
ashamed  to  be  descended; — shall  I  say  more? — because 
of  inconstancy  in  the  principles  of  the  faith,  which 
induces  so  many  by  a  sort  of  infatuation  to  forsake 
the  ancient  assemblies  in  order  to  follow  novelties 
unknown  to  our  fathers,  and  listen  to  pretended 
teachers  whose  only  gifts  are  rapture  and  babble,  and 
whose  sole  inspiration  consists  in  self-sufficiency  and 
pride.  Alas !  what  ravages  have  been  made  here,  as 
elsewhere,  during  this  jubilee  of  fifty  years  !  " 

But  there  were  other  causes  besides  these,  to  account 
for  the  decadence  of  the  refugee  churches.  Nature 
itself  was  working  against  them.  Year  by  year  the 
children  of  the  refugees  were  becoming  less  and  less 
Erench,  and  more  and  more  English.  They  lived  and 
worked  amongst  the  English,  and  spoke  their  lan- 
guage. They  intermarried  with  them  ;  their  children 
played  together ;  and  the  idea  of  remaining  foreigners 
in  the  country  in  which  they  had  been  born  and  bred, 
became  year  by  year  more  distasteful  to  them.  They 
were  not  a  "  peculiar  people,"  like  the  Jews ;  but 
Protestants,  like  the  nation  which  had  given  them 
refuge,  and  into  which  they  naturally  desired  to  be- 
come merged.  Hence  it  was  that,  by  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  nearly  all  the  French  churches,  as 
such,  had  disappeared ;  and  the  places  of  the  French 
ministers  became  occupied  in  many  cases  by  clergymen 
of  the  Established  Church,  and  in  others  by  ministers 
of  the  different  dissenting  persuasions. 

The  Church  of  the  Artillery,  in  which  the  Rev.  J. 
Bourdillon  preached  the  above  sermon,  so  full  of 


288  THti  FRENCH  HOSPITAL.  CHAP.  xvr. 

lamentations,  is  now  occupied  as  a  poor  Jews'  syna- 
gogue L'Eglise  Neuve  is  a  chapel  of  the  Wesleyan 
Methodists.  L'Eglise  de  St.  Jean,  Swan  Fields,  Shore- 
ditch,  has  become  one  of  the  ten  new  churches  of  St. 
Matthew,  Bethnal  Green.  Swallow  Street  Chapel  is 
used  as  a  Scotch  Church.  Leicester  Fields,  now  called 
Orange  Street  Chapel,  is  occupied  by  a  congregation 
of  Independents.  Whereas  Castle  Street  Chapel, 
Leicester  Square,  was,  until  quite  recently,  used  as  a 
Court  of  Requests. 

The  French  churches  at  Wands  worth  and  Chelsea 
are  occupied  by  the  Independents ;  and  those  at 
Greenwich  and  Plymouth  by  the  Baptists.  The  Dutch 
church  at  Maidstone  is  used  as  a  school ;  while  the 
Walloon  church  at  Yarmouth  was  first  converted  into 
a  theatre,  and  has  since  done  duty  as  a  warehouse. 

A.mong  the  charitable  institutions  founded  by  the  re- 
fugees for  the  succour  of  their  distressed  fellow-country- 
men in  England,  the  French  Hospital  was  the  most 
important.  This  establishment  owes  its  origin  to  M. 
De  Gastigny,  a  French  gentleman  who  had  been  mas- 
ter of  the  buckhounds  to  William  III.  while  Prince  of 
Orange.  At  his  death  in  1708,  he  bequeathed  a  sum 
of  £1000  towards  founding  an  hospital  in  London 
for  the  relief  of  distressed  French  Protestants.  The 
money  was  placed  at  interest  for  eight  years,  during 
which  successive  benefactions  were  added  to  the  fund. 
In  1716,  a  piece  of  ground  in  Old  Street,  St.  Luke's, 
was  purchased  of  the  Ironmongers'  Company,  and  a 
lease  was  taken  from  the  city  of  London  of  some  ad- 
joining land,  forming  altogether  an  area  of  about  four 
acres,  on  which  a  building  was  erected  and  fitted  up 
for  the  reception  of  eighty  poor  Protestants  of  the 
French  nation.  In  1718,  George  I.  granted  a  charter 
of  incorporation  to  the  governor  and  directors  of  the 
hospital,  under  which  the  Earl  of  Galway  was  ap- 
pointed the  first  governor.  Shortly  after,  in  November, 
1718,  the  opening  of  the  institution  was  celebrated  by 
a  solemn  act  of  religion ;  and  the  chapel  was  conse- 


CHAP.  xvi.  DlRECTOUS  OF  THE  FRENCH  HOSPITAL.    280 

crated  amidst  a  great  concourse  of  refugees  and  their 
descendants,  the  Rev.  Philip  Menard,  minister  of  the 
French  chapel  of  St  James's,  conducting  the  service  on 
the  occasion. 

From  that  time  the  funds  of  the  institution  have 
steadily  increased.  The  French  merchants  of  London, 
who  had  been  so  prosperous  in  trade,  liberally  con- 
tributed towards  its  support ;  and  legacies  and  dona- 
tions multiplied.  Lord  Galway  bequeathed  £1000  to 
the  hospital  at  his  death  in  1720 ;  and,  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  Baron  Hervart  de  Huningue  gave  a  donation 
of  £4000.  The  corporation  were  thus  placed  in  the 
posssesion  of  ample  means :  and  they  proceeded  to 
erect  additional  buildings,  in  which  they  were  enabled, 
by  the  year  1760,  to  give  asylum  to  234  poor  people.1 

Among  the  distinguished  noblemen  and  gentlemen 
of  French  Protestant  descent,  who  have  officiated  as 
governors  of  the  institution  since  the  date  of  its 
foundation,  may  be  mentioned  the  Earl  of  Galway,  the 
Baron  de  Huningue,  Robethon  (privy  councillor),  the 
Baron  de  la  Court,  Lord  Ligonier,  and  several  successive 
Earls  of  Radnor;  whilst  among  the  lists  of  directors 
we  recognise  the  names  of  Montolieu,  Baron  de  St. 
Hippolite,  Gambier,  Bosanquet,  Columbies,  Magendie 
(D.D.),  Colonel  de  Cosne',  Dalbiac,  Gaussen,  Dargent, 
Blaquiere,  General  Ruffane,  Lefevre,  Boileau  (Bart.), 
Colonel  Vignoles,  Romilly,  Turquand,  Pechel  (Bart.), 
Travers,  Lieut.-General  de  Villetes,  Major-General 
Montressor,  Devisme,  Chamier  (M.P.),  Major-General 
Layard,  Bouverie,  Captain  Dumaresq  (R.N.),  Duval, 
the  Hon.  Philip  Pusey,  Andre'  (Bart.),  De  Hochepied 
Larpent  (Bart.),  Jean  Sylvestre  (Bart.),  Cazenove, 
Dolland,  Petit  (M.D.),  Le  Mesurier,  Landon,  Martineau, 

1  The  French  hospital  has  re-  of  Mr.    Kobert  Lewis  Koumieu, 

cently    been  removed    from  its  architect,  one  of  the  directors ; 

original  site  to    Victoria  Park,  Mr.  Roumieu  being  himself  de- 

where  a  handsome  building  has  scended  from  an  illustrious  Hu- 

been  erected  as  an  hospital  for  guenot  family — the  Roumieus  of 

the  accommodation  of  40  men  Languedoc. 
and  20  women,  after  the  designs 

JL  J 


290        FRENCH  CHURCH  IN  CANTERBURY.      CHAP.  xvi. 

Baron  Maseres,  Chevalier,  Durand,  Hanbury,  Labou- 
chere,  De  la  Rue  (F.R.S.) ;  and  many  other  names  well 
known  and  highly  distinguished  in  the  commerce, 
politics,  literature,,  and  science  of  England. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  relics  of  the  Huguenot 
immigration,  which  has  survived  the  absorption  of 
the  refugees  into  the  general  population,  is  the  French 
church  which  still  continues  to  exist  in  the  Under  Croft 
of  Canterbury  Cathedral.  Three  hundred  years  have 
passed  since  the  first  body  of  exiled  Walloons  met  to 
worship  there, — three  hundred  years,  during  which 
generations  have  come  and  gone,  and  revolutions  have 
swept  over  Europe ;  and  still  that  eloquent  memorial 
of  the  religious  history  of  the  middle  ages  survives, 
bearing  testimony  alike  to  the  rancour  of  the  persecu- 
tions abroad,  the  steadfastness  of  the  foreign  Protes- 
tants, the  liberal  spirit  of  the  English  Church,  and  the 
free  asylum  which  England  has  provided  in  past  times 
for  fugitives  from  foreign  oppression  and  tyranny. 

The  visitor  to  the  cathedral,  in  passing  through 
the  Under  Croft,  has  usually  pointed  out  to  him  the 
apartment  still  used  as  "the  French  Church."  It  is 
walled  off  from  the  crypt  in  the  south  side-aisle ;  and 
through  the  windows  which  overlook  the  interior 
the  arrangements  of  the  place  can  easily  be  observed. 
It  is  plainly  fitted  up  with  pews,  a  pulpit,  and  pre- 
centor's desk,  like  a  dissenting  place  of  worship  ;  and 
indeed  it  is  a  dissenting  place  of  worship,  though 
forming  part  of  the  High  Cathedral  of  Canterbury. 
The  place  also  contains  a  long  table,  at  which  the 
communicants  §it  when  receiving  the  sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  after  the  manner  of  the  Geneva 
brethren. 

And  here  the  worship  still  continues  to  be  conducted 
in  French,  and  the  psalms  are  sung  to  the  old  Huguenot 
tunes,  almost  within  sound  of  the  high  choral  service 
of  the  Established  Church  of  England  overhead. 
"  Here,"  says  the  German  Dr.  Pauli,  "  the  eaiiy 
refugees  celebrated  the  services  of  their  Church;  and 


CHAP.  xvi.    DUTCH  CONGREGATION  AT  NORWICH.     291 


here  their  descendants,  who  are  now  reduced  to  a  very 
small  number,  still  carry  on  their  Presbyterian  mode 
of  worship  in  their  own  tongue,  immediately  below 
the  south  aisle  of  the  high  choir,  where  the  Anglican 
ritual  is  observed  in  all  its  prescribed  form — a  noble 
and  touching  concurrence,  the  parallel  to  which 
cannot  be  met  with  in  any  other  cathedral  church  in 
England."1 

The  French  church  at  Canterbury  would  doubtlesn 
long  since  have  become  altogether  extinct,  like  the 
other  churches  of  the  refugees,  but  for  an  endowment 
of  about  £200  a  year,  which  has  served  to  keep  it 
alive.  The  members  do  not  now  amount  to  more  than 
twenty,  of  whom  two  are  elders  and  four  deacons. 

The  Dutch  congregation  at  Norwich  has  also  con- 
tinued to  exist  in  name,  for  the  same  reason.  There  is 
an  endowment  belonging  to  it  of  some  £70  a  year;  and 
to  preserve  this,  an  annual  service  is  held  in  the  choir  of 
the  Black  Friars'  Church,  still  called  the  Dutch  Church, 
— the  nave  of  the  building  being  known  as  St.  Andrew's 
Hall,  and  used  for  holding  public  meetings  and  festivals. 
The  annual  sermon,  preached  in  Dutch,  is  a  mere  form, 
and  the  congregation  has  become  a  shadow  without 
substance. 

But  though  these  ancient  churches  are  now  the 
mere  vestiges  and  remnants  of  what  they  once  were, 
they  are  nevertheless  of  genuine  interest,  and  serve 
to  mark  an  epoch  of  memorable  importance  in  the 
history  of  England. 

1  PAULI,  Pictures  of  Old  England,  29. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

HUGUENOT   SETTLEMENTS   IN   IRELAND. 

IT  was  long  the  favourite  policy  of  the  English  mon- 
archs  to  induce  foreign  artizans  to  settle  in  Ireland 
and  establish  new  branches  of  trade.  It  was  hoped 
that  the  Irish  people,  inhabiting  so  rich  a  land,  and 
needing  only  peace  and  industry  to  make  it  prosper, 
might  be  induced  to  follow  their  example ;  and  that 
the  abundant  population  of  the  country,  instead  of  being 
a  source  of  poverty  and  idleness,  might  be  rendered  a 
source  of  national  wealth  and  strength. 

Elizabeth  encouraged  such  settlements  in  Ireland, 
though  the  disturbed  state  of  the  country  prevented 
her  intentions  being  carried  into  effect.  While  many 
Flemish  settlements  were  established  in  England 
during  her  reign,  almost  the  only  one  of  a  similar  kind 
established  in  Ireland,  of  which  we  have  any  account, 
was  that  of  Swords,  near  Dublin. 

It  was  not  until  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of 
James  I.  that  any  considerable  progress  was  made  in  the 
settlement  of  foreign  artizans  and  merchants  in  Ireland. 
In  1605,  John  Vertroven  and  John  Van  Dale  of  Brabant, 
Gabriel  Behaes  and  Matthew  Derenzie  of  Antwerp, — 
in  1607,  William  Baell  of  Antwerp,— in  1608,  James 
Marcus  of  Amsterdam,  and  Derrick  Varveer  of  Dort, 
— and  in  1613,  Wybrant  Olferston  and  John  Olferston 
of  Holland, — obtained  grants  of  naturalisation,  and 
settled  in  Ireland,  mostly  at  Dublin  and  Waterford, 
where  they  carried  on  business  as  merchants.  It  is 
supposed  that  the  Vanhomrigh  and  Vandeleur  families 


CHAP.  xvii.     FOREIGN  SETTLEMENTS  IN  IRELAND.     293 

entered  Ireland  about  the  same  period.  The  strangers 
made  good  their  footing,  and  eventually  established 
themselves  as  landed  proprietors  in  the  country. 

When  the  Earl  of  Strafford  was  appointed  chief 
deputy  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  he  applied  himself 
with  much  zeal  to  the  establishment  of  the  linen- 
manufacture  ;  sending  to  Holland  for  flax-seed,  and 
inviting  Flemish  and  French  artizans  to  settle  in 
Ireland.  In  order  to  stimulate  the  new  industry,  the 
earl  himself  embarked  in  it,  and  expended  not  less 
than  £30,000  of  his  private  fortune  in  the  enterprise. 
It  was  afterwards  made  one  of  the  grounds  of  his 
impeachment  that  "  he  had  obstructed  the  industry  of 
the  country  by  introducing  new  and  unknown  pro- 
cesses into  the  manufacture  of  flax."  It  was  neverthe- 
less greatly  to  the  credit  of  the  earl  that  he  should 
have  endeavoured  to  improve  the  industry  of  Ireland 
by  introducing  the  superior  processes  employed  by  the 
foreign  artizans ;  and  had  he  not  attempted  to  turn 
the  improved  flax-manufacture  to  his  own  advantage 
by  erecting  it  into  a  personal  monopoly,  he  would 
have  been  entitled  to  great  regard  as  a  genuine  bene- 
factor of  Ireland. 

The  Duke  of  Ormond  followed  the  example  of 
Strafford  in  endeavouring  to  induce  foreigners  to  settle 
in  Ireland.  Only  two  years  after  the  Restoration,  he 
had  a  bill  carried  through  the  Irish  Parliament  en- 
titled "  An  Act  for  encouraging  Protestant  strangers 
and  others  to  inhabit  Ireland,"  which  duly  received 
the  royal  assent.  The  Duke  actively  encouraged  the 
settlement  of  the  foreigners,  establishing  about  four 
hundred  Flemish  artizans  at  Chapel  Izod,  in  Kilkenny, 
under  Colonel  Richard  Lawrence.  He  there  built 
houses  for  the  weavers,  supplying  them  with  looms 
and  raw  material ;  and  a  considerable  trade  in  cordage, 
sail-cloth,  and  linen  shortly  grew  up.  The  Duke  also 
settled  Walloon  colonies  at  Clonmel,  Kilkenny,  and 


FOSTER,  Lives  of  Eminent  British  Statesmen,  ii,  385. 


294  FRENCH  EXILES  IN  DUBLIN.      CHAP.  xvn. 

Carrick-on-Suir,  where  they  established,  and  for  some 
time  successfully  carried  on,  the  making  of  woollen 
cloths  and  other  branches  of  manufacture. 

The  refugees  were  prosperously  pursuing  their 
respective  trades  when  the  English  Revolution  of  1688 
occurred,  and  again  Ireland  was  thrown  into  a  state 
of  civil  war,  which  continued  for  three  years,  but 
was  at  length  concluded  by  the  peace  of  Limerick  in 
1691. 

No  sooner  was  the  war  at  an  end,  than  William  III. 
took  active  steps  to  restore  the  prostrate  industry  of 
the  country.  The  Irish  Parliament  again  revived 
their  bill  of  1674  (which  the  Parliament  of  James  II. 
had  suspended),  granting  naturalisation  to  such  Pro- 
testant refugees  as  should  settle  in  Ireland,  and 
guaranteeing  them  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion. 
A  large  number  of  William's  foreign  officers  at  once 
availed  themselves  of  the  privilege,  and  settled  at 
Youghal,  Waterford,  and  Portarlington ;  whilst  colonies 
of  foreign  manufacturers  at  the  same  time  planted 
themselves  at  Dublin,  Cork,  Lisburn,  and  othei 
places. 

The  refugees  who  settled  at  Dublin  established 
themselves  for  the  most  part  in  "  The  Liberties,"  where 
they  began  the  manufacture  of  tabinet,  since  more 
generally  known  as  "  Irish  Poplin."  ]  The  demand 
for  the  article  became  such,  that  a  number  of  French 
masters  and  workmen  left  Spitalfields,  and  migrated 
to  Dublin,  where  they  largely  extended  the  manufac- 
ture. The  Combe,  Pimlico,  Spitalfields,  and  other 
streets  in  Dublin,  named  after  corresponding  streets 
in  London,  were  built  for  their  accommodation;  and 
Weaver's  Square  became  a  principal  quarter  in  the 

1  There  are  no  certain  records  ing   of  tabinets  or  poplins  and 

for  fixing  the  precise  date  when  tabbareas,   in    the    liberties    of 

silk-weaving  was  commenced  in  Dublin,  about  the  year  1693. — 

Dublin  ;  but  it  is  generally  be-  Dr.  W.  CO»KE  TAYLOB,  in  Statis- 

lieved  that  an  ancestor  of  the  ticalJourital  for  December,  1843, 

present  respected  family  of  the  p.  354. 
Lateuches  commenced  the  \veav- 


CHAP.  xvii.  HUGUENOTS  IN  ULSTER.  295 

city.  For  a  time  the  trade  was  very  prosperous, 
and  gave  employment  to  a  large  number  of  persons ; 
but  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  the 
frequent  recurrence  of  strikes  among  the  workmen 
paralysed  the  employers  of  labour.  The  manufacture 
became  almost  entirely  lost,  and  "The  Liberties," 
instead  of  the  richest,  became  one  of  the  poorest  quarters 
of  Dublin.  So  long  as  the  French  colony  prospered, 
the  refugees  had  three  congregations  in  the  city.  One 
of  these  was  an  Episcopal  congregation,  attached  to 
St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  which  worshipped  at  St.  Mary's 
Chapel,  granted  them  by  the  dean  and  chapter ;  and  it 
continued  in  existence  until  the  year  1816.  The  other 
two  were  Calvinistic  congregations,  one  of  which  had  a 
chapel  in  Peter  Street,1  and  the  other  in  Lucas  Lane. 
The  refugees  had  special  burying-places  assigned  to 
them  ;  the  principal  one  adjoined  St.  Stephen's  Green, 
the  other  was  situated  on  the  southern  outskirts  of 
the  city. 

But  the  northern  counties  of  Down  and  Antrim 
were,  more  than  any  other  parts  of  Ireland,  regarded 
as  the  sanctuary  of  the  refugees.  There  they  found 
themselves  amongst  men  of  their  own  religion, — 
mostly  Scotch  Calvinists,  who  had  fled  from  the  Stuart 
persecutions  in  Scotland  to  take  refuge  in  the  com- 
paratively unmolested  districts  of  Ulster.  Lisburn, 
formerly  called  Lisnagarvey,  about  ten  miles  south- 
west of  Belfast,  was  one  of  their  favourite  settle- 
ments. The  place  had  been  burnt  to  the  ground  in 
the  civil  war  of  1641 ;  but  with  the  help  of  the  re- 
fugees, it  was  before  long  restored  to  more  than  its 
former  importance,  and  became  one  of  the  most  pros- 
perous towns  in  Ireland. 

The  government  of  the  day,  while  they  discouraged 
the  woollen-manufacture  of  Ireland  because  of  its 
supposed  injury  to  England,  made  every  effort  to  en- 


1  The  old    French  church  in   Peter   Street  is  now  used  as  the 
Molyneux  asylum  for  the  blind. 


296  LOUIS  CROMMELIN.  CHAP.  xvn. 

courage  the  trade  in  linen.  An  Act  was  passed  with 
the  latter  object  in  1697,  containing  various  enact- 
ments calculated  to  foster  the  growth  of  flax  and  the 
manufacture  of  linen  cloth.  Before  the  passing  of 
this  Act,  William  III.  invited  Louis  Crommelin,  a 
Huguenot  refugee,  then  temporarily  settled  in  Holland, 
to  coine  over  into  Ireland  and  undertake  the  super- 
intendence of  the  new  branch  of  industry. 

Crommelin  belonged  to  a  family  that  had  carriec 
en  the  linen-manufacture  in  its  various  branches  in 
France  for  upwards  of  400  years.  He  had  himself 
been  engaged  in  the  business  for  more  than  thirty 
years  at  Arinancourt,  near  Saint  Quentin  in  Picardy, 
where  he  was  born.  He  was  singularly  well  fitted  for 
the  office  to  which  the  King  called  him.  He  was  a 
man  of  admirable  business  qualities,  excellent  good 
sense,  and  remarkable  energy  and  perseverance.  Being 
a  Protestant,  and  a  man  of  much  foresight,  he  had 
quietly  realised  what  he  could  of  his  large  property 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  St.  Quentin,  shortly  before 
the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes;  and  he  had 
migrated  across  the  frontier  into  Holland  before  the 
bursting  of  the  storm. 

In  1698,  Crommelin,  having  accepted  the  invitation 
of  William,  left  Holland,  accompanied  by  his  son,  and 
shortly  after  his  arrival  in  England  he  proceeded  into 
the  north  of  Ireland  to  fix  upon  the  site  best  adapted 
for  his  intended  undertaking.  After  due  deliberation, 
he  pitched  upon  the  ruined  village  of  Lisnagarvey  as 
the  most  suitable  for  his  purpose.1  The  King  approved 
of  the  selection,  and  authorised  Crommelin  to  proceed 
with  his  operations,  appointing  him  "  Overseer  of  the 
Royal  Linen  Manufactory  of  Ireland."  In  considera- 
tion of  Crommelin  advancing  £10,000  out  of  his  own 
private  fortune  to  commence  the  undertaking,  a  grant 
of  £800  per  annum  was  guaranteed  to  him  for  twelve 

1  Crommelin's  first  factory  was        Weacliing-ground  was  started  at 
at  the  foot  of  the  wooden  bridge        the  place  called  Hiklen. 
over  the  Lagan,    and  his  first 


CHAP.  xvii.      ESTABLISHES  THE  LINEN  TRADE.  297 

years — being  at  the  rate  of  8  per  cent,  on  the  capital 
invested.  At  the  same  time,  an  annuity  of  £200  was 
granted  him  for  life,  and  £120  a  year  for  two  assist- 
ants, whose  duty  it  was  to  travel  from  place  to  place 
and  superintend  the  cultivation  of  the  flax,  as  well  as 
to  visit  the  bleach  ing-grounds  and  see  to  the  proper 
finishing  of  the  fabric. 

Crommelin  sent  invitations  abroad  to  the  Protestant 
artizans  to  come  over  and  join  him,  and  numbers  of 
them  responded  to  his  call.  A  little  colony  of  refugees 
of  all  ranks  and  of  many  trades  was  soon  planted  at 
Lisburn,  and  the  place  exhibited  an  appearance  of 
returning  prosperity.  With  a  steadiness  of  purpose 
which  distinguished  Crommelin  through  life,  he  devoted 
himself  with  unceasing  zeal  to  the  promotion  of  the 
enterprise  which  he  had  taken  in  hand.  He  liberally 
rewarded  the  toil  of  his  brother  exiles,  and  cheered  them 
on  the  road  to  success.  He  imported  from  Holland  a 
thousand  looms  and  spinning-wheels  of  the  best  con- 
struction, and  gave  a  premium  of  £5  for  every  loom  that 
was  kept  going.  Before  long,  he  introduced  improve- 
ments of  his  own  in  the  looms  and  spinning- wheels,  as 
well  as  in  the  implements  and  in  the  preparation  of  the 
material.  Every  branch  of  the  operations  made  rapid 
progress  under  the  Huguenot  chief — from  the  sowing, 
cultivating,  and  preparing  of  the  flax  through  the 
vai'ious  stages  of  its  manipulation,  to  the  finishing  of 
the  cloth  at  the  bleach-field.  And  thus  by  painstaking, 
skill,  and  industry,  zealously  supported  as  he  was  by 
his  artizans,  Crommelin  was  shortly  enabled  to  produce 
finer  sorts  of  fabrics  than  had  ever  before  been  made 
in  Britain. 

Crommelin,  amongst  his  other  labours  for  the  estabt 
lishment  of  the  linen  trade,  wrote  and  published  a- 
Dublin,  in  1705,  An  Essay  towards  tlte  Improving  of 
the  Hempen  and  Flaxen  Manufactures  of  Hie,  Kingdom 
of  Ireland,  so  that  all  might  be  made  acquainted  with 
the  secret  of  his  success,  and  enabled  to  follow  his 
example.  The  treatise  contained  many  useful  instruc- 


298    CROMMELIN  A  PUBLIC  BENEFACTOR.    CHAP.  XVIL 

tions  for  the  cultivation  of  flax,  in  the  various  stages 
of  its  planting  and  growth,  together  with  directions  for 
the  preparation  of  the  material,  in  the  several  processes 
of  spinning,  weaving,  and  bleaching. 

Though  a  foreigner,  Crornmelin  continued  through- 
out his  life  to  take  a  warm  interest  in  the  prosperity 
of  his  adopted  country ;  and  his  services  were  recog- 
nised, not  only  by  King  William,  who  continued  his 
firm  friend  to  the  last,  but  by  the  Irish  Parliament, 
who  from  time  to  time  voted  grants  of  money  to  him- 
self, his  assistants,  and  his  artizans,  to  enable  him  to 
prosecute  his  enterprise ;  and  in  1707,  they  voted  him 
the  public  thanks  for  his  patriotic  efforts  towards  the 
establishment  of  the  linen  trade  in  Ireland,  of  which 
he  was  the  founder.  Orommelin  died  in  1727,  and 
was  buried  beside  other  members  of  his  family,  in  the 
churchyard  at  Lisburn. 

The  French  refugees  long  continued  a  distinct 
people  in  the  neighbourhood.  They  clung  together, 
associated  and  worshipped  together,  frequenting  their 
own  Huguenot  church,  in  which  they  had  a  long  suc- 
cession of  French  pastors.1  They  carefully  educated 
their  children  in  the  French  language,  and  in  the 
Huguenot  faith ;  cherishing  the  hope  of  being  enabled 
some  day  to  return  to  their  native  land.  But  that 
hope  at  length  died  out,  and  the  descendants  of  the 
Crommelins  eventually  mingled  with  the  families  of 
the  Irish,  and  became  part  and  parcel  of  the  British 
nation. 

1  The  Rev.  Saumarez  Dubour-  by  deaths  as  well  as  intermar- 

dieu,  grandson  of  the  celebrated  riages   with   Irish  families,   the 

French    Pastor    of    the     Savoy  chapel  was  at  length  closed.    It 

Church  in  London,  was  minister  is  now  used  as  the  court-house  of 

of  the  French  church  at  Lisburn  Lisburn.    The  pastor  Dubourdieu 

for  forty-five  years,  and  was  so  joined  the  Established  Church, 

beloved  in    the    neighbourhood  and    was    presented    with    the 

that,  at  the  insurrection  of  1798,  living    of    Lambeg.     His    son, 

he  was  the  only  person  in  Lisburn  rector  of  Annahelt,  County  Down, 

whom  the  insurgents  agreed  to  was  the  author  of  A  Statistical 

spare.    The  French  congregation  Survey  of  the   County   Antrim, 

having  become  greatly  decreased,  published  in  1812. 


CHAP.  xvil.  PETER  GOYER.  299 

Among  the  other  Freech  settlers  at  Lisburn,  was 
Peter  Goyer,  a  native  of  Picardy.  He  owned  a  large 
farm  there,  and  also  carried  on  an  extensive  business 
as  a  manufacturer  of  cambric  and  silk,  at  the  time  of 
the  Revocation.  When  the  Dragonnades  began,  he 
left  his  property  behind  him,  and  fled  across  the 
frontier.  The  record  is  still  preserved  in  the  family,  of 
the  cruelties  practised  upon  Peter's  martyred  brother 
by  the  ruthless  French  soldiery,  who  tore  a  leaf  from 
his  Bible,  and  forced  it  into  his  mouth  before  he  died. 
From  Holland,  Goyer  proceeded  to  England,  and  from 
thence  to  Lisburn,  where  he  began  the  manufacture  of 
the  articles  for  which  he  had  acquired  so  much  reputa- 
tion in  his  own  country.  After  a  short  time,  he  re- 
solved on  returning  to  France,  in  the  hope  of  being  able 
to  recover  some  of  his  property.  But  the  persecution  was 
raging  more  fiercely  than  before,  and  he  found  that,  if 
captured,  he  would  probably  be  condemned  to  the  gal- 
leys for  life.  He  again  contrived  to  make  his  escape, 
having  been  carried  on  board  an  outward-bound  ship 
concealed  in  a  wine-cask.  Returned  to  Lisburn,  he 
resumed  the  manufacture  of  silk  and  cambric,  in  which 
he  employed  a  considerable  number  of  workmen.  His 
silk  manufacture  was  destroyed  by  the  rebellion  of 
1798,  which  dispersed  the  workpeople ;  but  that  of 
cambric  survived,  and  became  firmly  founded  at 
Lurgan,  which  now  enjoys  a  high  reputation  for  the 
perfection  of  its  manufactures. 

Other  colonies  of  the  refugees  were  established  in 
the  south  of  Ireland,  where  they  carried  on  various 
branches  of  manufacture.  William  Crommelin,  a 
brother  of  Louis,  having  been  appointed  one  of  his 
assistants,  superintended  the  branch  of  the  linen  trade 
which  was  established  at  Kilkenny  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  the  Marquis  of  Ormonde.  At  Limerick, 
the  refugees  established  the  lace  and  glove  trades, 
which  still  flourish.  At  Bandon,  they  carried  on 
cloth-manufacturing,  the  names  of  the  colonists  indi- 
cating a  mixture  of  Walloons  and  Huguenots, — the 


300     FRENCH  MANUFACTURERS  AT  CORK.     CHAP.  xvn. 

GaiTetts,  De  Ruyters,  and  Minhears  being  Flemish, 
and  the  Beaumonts,  Willises,  and  Baxters,  being  French 
immigrants,  from  the  banks  of  the  Loire. 

Another  settlement  of  French  refugees  was  formed 
at  Cork,  where  they  congregated  in  a  quarter  of  the 
town  forming  part  of  the  parish  of  St.  Paul,  the  prin- 
cipal street  in  which  is  French  Church  Street,  so  called 
from  the  place  of  worship  belonging  to  them,  where 
the  service  wras  performed  in  French  down  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present  century.1  Though  the  principal 
refugees  in  Cork  were  merchants  and  traders,  there 
was  a  sufficient  number  of  them  to  begin  the  manufac- 
ture of  woollen  cloth,  ginghams,  and  other  fabrics, 
which  they  carried  on  for  a  time  with  considerable 
success.  Another  body  of  Huguenot  refugees  en- 
deavoured to  introduce  the  silk  manufacture  at  Inne- 
shannon,  about  three  miles  below  Bandon,  where  they 
built  houses  recognisable  by  their  ornamental  brick- 
work and  lozenge-shaped  windows,  and  which  is  still 
known  as  "the  colony."  But  their  efforts  to  rear 
silkworms  failed;  the  colonists  migrated  to  Spital- 
fields ;  and  all  that  remains  of  their  enterprise  is  "  The 
Mulberry  Field,"  which  still  retains  its  name. 

The  woollen-manufacture  at  Cork  was  begun  by 
James  Fontaine,  a  member  of  the  noble  family  of  De 
la  Fontaine  in  France,  a  branch  of  which  embraced 
Protestantism  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  continued 
to  adhere  to  it  down  to  the  period  of  the  Revocation. 
The  career  of  James  Fontaine  was  singularly  illustra- 
tive of  the  times  in  which  he  lived.  His  case  was  only 
one  amongst  thousands  of  others,  in  which  persons  of 

1  A.  Cork  correspondent  says :  Post*  Office    Directory,    •  Coach- 

"The    Irish    could    never    pro-  and- Six  Lane.'     A  Huguenot  of 

nounce  the  French  names,  and  the  name  of  Couchancex  having 

some   curious    misnomers    have  resided  here  more  than  a  century 

been  the  consequence,  now  iden-  ago,  when  it  was  a  fashionable 

tified  with  the  topography  of  the  quarter,  the  place  was  called  after 

city.     For  example,  there  is  a  him,  and  has  thus  become  meta- 

wretched  cul-de-sac  off  the  north  morphosed      into     '  Coach-and- 

main  street,  now  called  in  the  Six.' " 


HAP.  xvil.  JAMES  FONTAINE.  301 

rank,  wealth,  and  learning,  were  suddenly  stripped  of 
their  all,  and  compelled  to  become  wanderers  over  the 
earth  for  conscience'  sake.  His  life  further  serves  to 
show  how  a  clever  and  agile  Frenchman,  thrown  upon 
a  foreign  shore,  a  stranger  to  its  people  and  its  language, 
without  any  calling  or  resources,  but  full  of  energy  and 
courage,  could  contrive  to  earn  an  honest  living  and 
achieve  an  honourable  reputation. 

James  Fontaine  was  the  son  of  a  Protestant  pastor 
of  the  same  name,  and  was  born  at  Royan  in  Saintonge, 
a  famous  Huguenot  district.  His  father  was  the  first 
of  the  family  to  drop  the  aristocratic  prefix  of  "  de  la," 
which  he  did  from  motives  of  modesty.  When  a  child 
Fontaine  met  with  an  accident  through  the  carelessness 
of  a  nurse,  which  rendered  him  lame  for  life.  When 
only  eight  years  old,  his  father  died,  so  that  little  was 
done  for  his  education  until  he  arrived  at  about  the 
age  of  seventeen,  when  he  was  placed  under  a  com- 
petent tutor,  and  eventually  took  the  degree  of  M.A., 
at  the  College  of  Guienne,  in  his  twenty-second  year. 
Shortly  after,  his  mother  died,  and  he  became  the 
possessor  of  her  landed  propert}7  near  Pons,  in  the 
Charente. 

Young  Fontaine's  sister,  Marie,  had  married  a 
Protestant  pastor  named  Forestier,  of  St.  Mesme 
in  Angoumois.  Jacques  went  to  live  with  them  for  a 
time,  and  to  study  theology  under  the  pastor.  The 
persecutions  having  shortly  set  in,  Forestier's  church 
was  closed  and  he  himself  compelled  to  fly  to  England. 
The  congregation  of  St.  Mesme  was  consequently  left 
without  a  minister.  Young  Fontaine,  though  he  well 
knew  the  risks  he  ran,  nevertheless  encouraged  the 
Protestants  to  assemble  in  the  open  air,  and  occasion- 
ally conducted  their  devotions.  On  being  informed 
against,  he  was  cited  to  appear  before  the  local 
tribunals.  He  was  charged  with  the  crime  of  at- 
tending a  Protestant  meeting  in  1684,  contrary  to 
law ;  and  though  he  had  not  been  present  at  the  meet- 
ing specified,  he  was  condemned  and  imprisoned.  He 


302         FONTAINE  ESCAPES  FROM  FRANCE.    CHAP.XVII. 

appealed  to  the  Parliament  at  Paris,  V'hither  he  carried 
his  plea  of  alibi,  and  was  acquitted. 

When  the  intelligence  reached  him  in  the  following 
year,  that  the  Edict  of  Revocation  was  proclaimed,  he 
at  once  determined  to  make  his  escape.  A  party  of 
Protestant  ladies  had  arranged  to  accompany  him, 
consisting  of  Janette  Forestier,  the  daughter  of  the 
pastor  of  St.  Mesme  (already  in  England) ,  his  niece, 
and  the  two  Mesdemoiselles  Boursignot,  to  one  of  whom 
Fontaine  was  betrothed. 

At  Marennes,  the  captain  of  an  English  ship  was 
found,  willing  to  give  the  party  a  passage  to  England. 
It  was  at  first  intended  that  they  should  rendezvous 
on  the  sands  near  Tremblade,  and  then  proceed  privily 
on  shipboard.  But  the  coast  was  strictly  guarded, 
especially  between  Royan  and  La  Rochelle,  where  the 
Protestants  of  the  interior  were  constantly  seeking  out- 
lets for  escape  ;  and  this  part  of  the  plan  was  given  up. 
The  search  of  vessels  leaving  the  ports  had  become  so 
strict,  that  the  English  captain  feared  that  even  if 
Fontaine  and  his  ladies  succeeded  in  getting  on  board, 
it  would  not  be  possible  for  him  to  conceal  them  or 
prevent  their  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  King's 
detectives.  He  therefore  proposed  that  his  ship  should 
set  sail,  and  that  the  fugitives  should  put  out  to  sea 
and  wait  for  him,  when  he  would  take  them  on  board. 
It  proved  fortunate  that  this  plan  was  adopted  ;  for, 
scarcely  had  the  English  merchantman  left  Tremblade, 
than  she  was  boarded  and  searched  by  a  French  frigate 
on  the  look-out  for  fugitive  Protestants.  No  prisoners 
were  found  ;  and  the  captain  of  the  merchantman  was 
ordered  to  proceed  at  once  to  his  destination. 

Meanwhile,  the  boat  containing  the  fugitives  having 
put  out  to  sea,  as  arranged,  lay  to,  waiting  the  ap- 
proach of  the  English  vessel.  That  they  might  not  be 
descried  from  the  frigate,  which  was  close  at  hand,  the 
boatman  made  them  lie  down  in  the  bottom  of  the 
boat,  covering  them  with  an  old  sail.  They  all  knew 
the  penalties  to  which  they  were  liable  if  detected  in 


CHAP.  xvn.          ARRIVAL  AT  BARNSTAPLE.  303 

the  attempt  to  escape — Fontaine,  the  boatman,  and 
his  son,  to  condemnation  to  the  galleys  for  life ;  and 
the  three  ladies  to  imprisonment  for  life.  The  frigate 
bore  down  upon  the  boat  and  hailed  the  boatman, 
who  feigned  drunkenness  so  well  that  he  completely 
deceived  the  captain,  who,  seeing  nothing  but  the  old 
sail  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  ordered  the  frigate's 
head  to  be  put  about,  when  it  sailed  away  in  the  direc- 
of  Rochefort.  Shortly  after,  while  she  was  still  in 
sight,  though  distant,  the  agreed  signal  was  given  by 
the  boat  to  the  merchantman  (that  of  dropping  the  sail 
three  times  in  the  apparent  attempt  to  hoist  it),  on 
which  the  English  vessel  lay  to,  and  took  the  exiles  on 
board.  After  a  voyage  of  eleven  days,  they  reached 
the  welcome  asylum  of  England,  and  Fontaine  and 
his  party  landed  at  Barnstaple,  North  Devon, — his  sole 
property  consisting  of  twenty  pistoles  and  six  silver 
spoons,  which  had  belonged  to  his  father,  and  bore  upon 
them  his  infantine  initials,  I.  D.  L.  F.— Jacques  de  la 
Fontaine. 

Fontaine  and  the  three  ladies  were  hospitably  re- 
ceived  by  Mr.  Donne  of  Barnstaple,  with  whom  they 
lived  until  a  home  could  be  provided  for  their  recep- 
tion. One  of  the  first  things  which  occupied  Fontaine's 
attention  was,  how  to  earn  a  living  for  their  support. 
A  cabin-biscuit,  which  he  bought  for  a  halfpenny, 
gave  him  his  first  hint.  The  biscuit  would  have  cost 
twopence  in  France ;  and  it  at  once  occurred  to  him 
that,  such  being  the  case,  grain  might  be  shipped  from 
England  to  France  at  a  profit.  Mr.  Donne  agreed  to 
advance  the  money  requisite  for  the  purpose,  taking 
half  the  profits.  The  first  cargo  of  corn  exported 
proved  very  profitable ;  but  Fontaine's  partner  after- 
wards insisting  on  changing  the  consignee,  who  proved 
dishonest,  the  speculation  eventually  proved  unsuc- 
cessful. 

Font  nine  had  by  this  time  married  the  Huguenot 
lady  to  whom  he  was  betrothed,  and  who  had  accom- 
panied him  in  his  flight  to  England.  After  the  failure 


304  FONTAINE  IN  IRELAND.  CHAP.  xvn. 

of  the  corn  speculation,  he  removed  to  Taunton  in 
Somerset,  where  he  made  a  shift  to  live.  He  took 
pupils,  dealt  in  provisions,  sold  brandy,  groceries,  stock- 
ings, leather,  tin  and  copper  wares,  and  carried  on 
wool-combing,  dyeing,  and  the  making  of  calimancoes. 
In  short,  he  was  a  "jack-of-all-trades."  He  followed 
so  many  callings,  and  occasioned  so  much  jealousy  in 
the  place,  that  he  was  cited  before  the  mayor  and 
aldermen  as  an  interloper,  and  required  to  give  an 
account  of  himself.  This  and  other  circumstances 
determined  him  to  give  up  business  in  Taunton — not, 
however,  before  he  had  contrived  to  save  about  £1000 
by  his  industry — and  to  enter  upon  the  life  of  a  pastor. 
He  had  already  been  admitted  to  holy  orders  by  the 
French  Protestant  synod  at  Taunton,  and  in  1694  he 
left  that  town  for  Ireland,  in  search  of  a  congregation. 

Fontaine's  adventures  in  Ireland  were  even  more 
remarkable  than  those  which  he  had  experienced  in 
England.  The  French  refugees  established  at  Cork 
had  formed  themselves  into  a  congregation,  of  which 
he  was  appointed  pastor  in  January,  1695.  They 
were,  however,  as  yet  too  poor  to  pay  him  any  stipend ; 
and,  in  order  to  support  himself,  as  well  as  turn  to 
account  the  money  which  he  had  saved  by  his  industry 
and  frugality  at  Taunton,  he  began  a  manufactory  of 
broadcloth.  This  gave  much  welcome  employment  to 
the  labouring  poor  of  the  city,  besides  contributing 
towards  the  increase  of  its  general  trade, — in  acknow- 
ledgment of  which  the  corporation  presented  him 
with  the  freedom.  He  still  continued  to  officiate  as 
pastor ;  but,  one  day,  when  expounding  the  text  of 
"  Thou  shalt  not  steal,"  he  preached  so  effectively  as 
to  make  a  personal  enemy  of  a  member  of  his  congre- 
gation, who,  unknown  to  him,  had  been  engaged  in  a 
swindling  transaction.  The  result  was,  that  so  much 
dissension  was  occasioned  in  the  congregation,  that  he 
eventually  gave  up  the  charge. 

To  occupy  his  spare  time, — for  Fontaine  was  a  man 
of  an  intensely  active  temperament,  and  most  unhappy 


CHAP.  xvil.       FONTAINE'S  FISHING  COMPANY.  305 

when  unemployed, — he  took  a  farm  at  Bearhaven, 
situated  at  the  entrance  to  Bantry  Bay,  nearly  at  the 
extreme  south-west  point  of  Munster,  the  very  Land's 
End  of  Ireland,  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  fishery. 
The  idea  occurred  to  him,  as  it  has  since  occurred  to 
others,  that  there  were  many  hungry  people  on  land 
waiting  to  be  fed,  and  shoals  of  fish  at  sea  waiting  to 
be  caught, — and  that  it  would  be  a  useful  enterprise 
to  form  a  fishing-company,  and  induce  the  idle  people 
to  put  to  sea  and  catch  the  fish,  selling  to  others 
the  surplus  beyond  what  was  necessary  to  feed  them. 
Fontaine  succeeded  in  inducing  some  of  the  French 
merchants  settled  in  London  to  join  him  in  the 
venture  ;  and  he  himself  went  to  reside  at  Bearhaven 
to  superintend  the  operations  of  the  company. 

Fontaine  failed,  as  other  Irish  fishing-companies 
have  since  failed.  The  people  would  rather  starve 
than  go  to  sea — for  Celts  are  by  nature  averse  to  salt 
water;  and  the  consequence  was,  that  the  company 
made  no  progress.  Fontaine  had  even  to  defend 
himself  against  the  pillaging  and  plundering  of  the 
natives.  He  then  induced  some  thirteen  French  re- 
fugee families  to  settle  in  the  neighbourhood,  having 
previously  taken  small  farms  for  them,  including 
Dursey  Island ;  but  the  Irish  gave  the  foreigners 
no  peace  nor  rest,  and  they  left  before  the  end  of 
three  years.  The  local  court  would  not  give  Fon- 
taine any  redress  when  an  injury  was  done  to  him. 
If  his  property  was  stolen,  and  he  appealed  to  the 
court,  his  complaint  was  referred  to  a  jury  of  papists, 
who  invariably  decided  against  him  ;  whereas,  if  the 
natives  made  any  claim  upon  him,  they  were  sure 
to  recover  what  they  demanded. 

Notwithstanding  these  great  discouragements,  Fon- 
taine held  to  his  purpose,  and  determined,  if  possible, 
to  establish  a  fishing  station.  He  believed  that  time 
would  work  in  his  favour,  and  that  it  might  yet  be 
possible  to  educate  the  people  into  habits  of  industry. 
He  was  well  supported  by  the  Government,  who,  ob- 

20 


306  FONTAINE'S  SOD  FOKT  STOPPED.      CHAP.  xvn. 

serving  his  zealous  efforts  to  establish  a  new  branch  of 
industry,  and  desirous  of  giving  him  increased  influ- 
ence in  his  neighbourhood,  appointed  him  Justice  of 
the  Peace.  In  this  capacity  he  was  found  very  useful 
in  keeping  down  the  "  Tories,"  and  breaking  up  the 
connection  between  them  and  the  French  privateers 
who  occasionally  frequented  the  coast.  Knowing  his 
liability  to  attack,  Fontaine  converted  his  residence  at 
Bearhaven  into  a  sod  fort ;  and  not  without  cause,  as 
the  result  proved. 

In  June,  1704,  a  French  privateer  entered  Ban  try 
Bay,  and  proceeded  to  storm  the  sod  fort ;  when  the 
lame  Fontaine,  by  the  courage  and  ability  of  his 
defence,  showed  himself  a  commander  of  no  mean 
skill.  John  Macliney,  a  Scotchman,  and  Paul  Roussier, 
a  French  refugee,  showed  great  bravery  on  the  occa- 
sion ;  while  Madame  Fontaine,  who  acted  as  aide-de- 
camp and  surgeon,  distinguished  herself  by  her  quiet 
courage.  The  engagement  lasted  from  eight  in  the 
morning  until  four  in  the  afternoon,  when  the  French 
decamped  with  the  loss  of  three  killed  and  seven 
wounded,  spreading  abroad  a  very  wholesome  fear  of 
Fontaine  and  his  sod  fort.  When  the  refugee's  gallant 
exploit  was  reported  to  the  government,  he  was  re- 
warded by  a  pension  of  five  shillings  a  day  for  beating 
off  the  privateer,  and  supplied  with  five  guns,  which 
he  was  authorised  to  mount  in  his  battery. 

Fontaine  was  not  allowed  to  hold  his  post  unmo- 
lested. It  was  at  the  remotest  corner  of  the  island, 
far  from  any  town,  and  surrounded  by  a  hostile  popu- 
lation in  league  with  the  enemy,  whose  ships  were 
constantly  hovering  about  the  coast.  In  the  year  suc- 
ceeding the  above  engagement,  while  Fontaine  himself 
was  absent  in  London,  a  French  ship  entered  Bantry 
Bay,  and  cautiously  approached  Bearhaven.  Fon- 
taine's wife  was,  however,  on  the  look-out,  and  detected 
the  foreigner.  She  had  the  guns  loaded  and  one  of 
them  fired  off  to  show  that  the  little  garrison  was  on 
the  alert.  The  Frenchman  then  veered  off  and  made 


CHAP.  xvn.       THE  FORT  AGAIN  ASSAULTED.  307 

for  Bear  Island,  where  a  party  of  the  crew  landed, 
stole  some  cattle,  which  they  put  on  board,  and  sailed 
away  again. 

A  more  serious  assault  was  made  on  the  fort  about 
two  years  later.  A  company  of  soldiers  was  then 
quartered  at  the  Half  Barony  in  the  neighbourhood, 
the  captain  of  which  boarded  with  the  refugee  family 
On  the  7th  of  October,  1708,  during  the  temporary 
absence  of  Fontaine  as  well  as  the  captain,  a  French 
privateer  made  his  appearance  in  the  haven,  and 
hoisted  English  colours.  The  ensign  residing  in  the 
fort  at  the  time,  deceived  by  the  stratagem,  went  on 
board,  when  he  was  immediately  made  prisoner.  He 
was  plied  with  drink  and  became  intoxicated,  when 
he  revealed  the  fact  that  there  was  no  officer  in 
command  of  the  fort.  The  crew  of  the  privateer  were 
principally  Irish,  and  they  determined  to  attack  the 
place  at  midnight,  for  which  purpose  a  party  of  them 
landed. 

Fontaine  had  by  this  time  returned,  and  was  on 
the  alert.  He  hailed  the  advancing  party  through  a 
speaking-trumpet,  and,  no  answer  being  returned,  he 
ordered  fire  to  be  opened  on  them.  The  assailants 
then  divided  into  six  detachments,  one  of  which  set 
fire  to  the  offices  and  stables ;  the  household  servants, 
under  the  direction  of  Madame  Fontaine,  protecting 
the  dwelling-house  from  conflagration.  The  men 
within  fired  from  the  windows  and  loopholes,  but  the 
smoke  was  so  thick  that  they  could  only  fire  at 
random.  Some  of  the  privateer's  men  succeeded  in 
making  a  breach  with  a  crowbar  in  the  wall  of  the 
house,  but  they  were  saluted  with  so  rapid  a  fire 
through  the  opening  that  they  suspected  there  must 
be  a  party  of  soldiers  in  the  house,  and  they  retired. 
They  advanced  again,  and  summoned  the  besieged  to 
surrender,  offering  fair  terms.  Fontaine  approached 
the  French  for  the  purpose  of  parley,  when  one  of  the 
Irish  lieutenants  took  aim  and  fired  at  him.  This 
treachery  made  the  Fontaines  resume  the  defensive, 


308  A  GLORIOUS  FEAT!  CHAP.  xrn. 

which  was  continued  without  intermission  for  some 
hours  ;  when,  no  help  arriving,  Fontaine  found  himself 
under  the  necessity  of  surrendering,  conditional  upon 
himself  and  his  two  sons,  with  their  two  followers, 
marching  out  with  the  honours  of  war.  No  sooner, 
however,  had  the  house  been  surrendered,  than  Fon- 
taine, his  sons,  and  their  followers,  were  at  once  made 
prisoners,  and  the  dwelling  was  given  up  to  plunder. 

Fontaine  protested  against  this  violation  of  the 
treaty,  but  it  was  of  no  use.  The  leader  of  the  French 
party  said  to  him,  "  Your  name  has  become  so  noto- 
rious among  the  privateers  of  St.  Malo,  that  I  dare 
not  return  to  the  vessel  without  you.  The  captain's 
order  was  peremptory,  to  bring  you  on  board,  dead  or 
alive."  Fontaine  and  his  sons  were  accordingly  taken 
on  board  prisoners ;  and  when  the  Huguenot  hero 
appeared  on  deck,  the  crew  set  up  a  shout  of  "  Vive 
le  Roi."  On  this,  Fontaine  called  out,  "  Gentleman, 
how  long  is  it  since  victories  have  become  so  rare  in 
France,  that  you  must  needs  make  a  triumph  of  such 
a  poor  affair  as  this  ?  A  glorious  feat  indeed  !  Eighty 
men,  accustomed  to  war,  have  succeeded  in  compelling 
a  lame  pastor,  four  cowherds,  and  five  children,  to 
surrender  upon  terms  ! "  Fontaine  again  expostulated 
with  the  captain,  and  informed  him  that,  being  held  a 
prisoner  in  breach  of  the  treaty  under  which  he  had 
surrendered,  he  must  be  prepared  for  the  retaliation  of 
the  English  government  upon  French  prisoners  of  war. 
The  captain  would  not,  however,  give  up  Fontaine 
without  a  ransom,  and  demanded  £100.  Madame 
Fontaine  contrived  to  borrow  £30,  and  sent  it  to  the 
captain,  with  a  promise  of  the  remainder.  The  cap- 
tain could  not  wait,  but  he  liberated  Fontaine,  and 
carried  off  his  son  Pierre  to  St.  Malo,  as  a  hostage  for 
the  payment  of  the  balance. 

When  the  news  of  this  attack  on  the  fort  at  Bear- 
haven  reached  the  English  Government,  and  they  were 
informed  of  the  violation  of  the  conditions  under 
which  Fontaine  had  surrendered,  they  ordered  the 


CHAP.  xvn.      FONTAINE  ABANDONS  SEARIIAVEN.      309 

French  officers  at  Kinsale  and  Plymouth  to  be  put 
in  irons  until  Fontaine's  son  was  sent  back.  This 
produced  an  immediate  effect.  In  the  course  of  a  few 
months  Pierre  Fontaine  was  set  at  liberty  and  returned 
to  his  parents,  and  the  balance  of  the  ransom  was  never 
claimed.  The  commander  of  the  forces  in  Ireland 
made  Fontaine  an  immediate  grant  of  £100,  to  relieve 
him  from  the  destitution  to  which  he  had  been  reduced 
by  the  plunder  of  his  dwelling.  The  county  of  Cork 
afterwards  paid  him  £800  as  damages,  on  its  being 
proved  that  Irishmen  had  been  principally  concerned 
in  the  attack  and  robbery;  and  Fontaine's  two  sons 
were  awarded  the  position  and  rights  of  half-pay 
officers,  while  his  own  pension  was  continued.  The 
fort  at  Bearhaven,  having  been  completely  desolated, 
was  abandoned  ;  and  Fontaine,  with  the  grant  made  to 
him  by  government,  and  the  sum  awarded  by  the 
county,  left  the  lawless  neighbourhood  which  he  had 
so  long  laboured  to  improve  and  to  defend,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  Dublin,  where  he  settled  for  the  remainder 
of  his  life  as  a  teacher  of  langauges,  mathematics,  and 
fortification.  His  undertaking  proved  successful,  and 
he  ended  his  days  there  in  peace.  His  noble  wile  died 
in  1721,  and  he  himself  followed  her  shortly  after, 
respected  and  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him.1 


ail   Jb'untaiuc's    near  Mauiy,    Fredericksville    Parish, 

relatives  took  refuge  in  England.  Louisa   County,    Virginia,  from 

His    mother  and    three  of   his  whom  Mathew  Fontaine  Maury. 

brothers  were  refugees  in  Lon-  LL.D.,   lately    Captain    in    the 

don.      One  of  them  afterwards  Confederate    States    Navy,   and 

became  a  Protestant  minister  in  author   of   The    Physical    Geo- 

Germany.     One  of    his    uncles,  graphy  of  the  Sea,  is  lineally  de- 

Peter,  was   pastor  of   the  Pest  scended.      The  above  particulars 

House  Chapel  in  London.     Two  are  for  the  most  part  taken  from 

aunts  —  one  a  widow,  the  other  the  '  '  Memoirs    of  a   Huguenot 

married  to  a  refugee  merchant  —  Family  ;  translated  and  compiled 

were  also    settled    in    London.  from  the  original  Autobiography 

Fontaine's  sons  and    daughters  of  the  Kev.  James  Fontaine,  and 

mostly   emigrated    to    Virginia,  other    family    manuscripts,   by 

where  their  descendants  are  still  ANN   MAURY  "   (another  of  the 

to  be  found.    His  daughter  Mary  descendants  of  Fontaine)  :  New 

Anne  married  the   Kev.    James  York,  1853. 


310  FRENCH  COLONY  AT  WATERFORD.     CHAP.  xvil. 

We  return  to  the  subject  of  the  settlements  made  by 
other  refugees  in  the  southern  parts  of  Ireland.  In 
1697,  about  fifty  retired  officers,  who  had  served  in  the 
army  of  William  III.,  settled  with  their  families  at 
Youghal,  on  the  invitation  of  the  mayor  and  corpora- 
tion, who  offered  them  the  freedom  of  the  town  on 
payment  of  the  nominal  sum  of  sixpence  each.  It 
does  not  appear  that  the  refugees  were  sufficiently 
numerous  to  maintain  a  pastor,  though  the  Rev.  Arthur 
d'Anvers  for  some  time  privately  ministered  to  them. 
Most  probably,  from  the  circumstance  of  their  com- 
paratively small  number,  they  speedily  ceased  to  exist 
as  a  distinctive  portion  of  the  community,  though 
names  of  French  origin  are  still  common  in  the 
town. 

The  French  refugee  colony  at  Waterford  was  of 
considerably  greater  importance.  Being  favourably 
situated  for  trade  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Suir, 
with  a  rich  agricultural  country  behind  it,  Waterford 
offered  many  inducements  to  the  refugee  merchants 
and  traders  to  settle  there.  In  the  Act  passed  by  the 
Irish  Parliament  in  1662,  and  re-enacted  in  1672,  "for 
encouraging  Protestant  strangers  and  others  to  inhabit 

o      o  t  o 

Ireland,"  Waterford  is  specially  named  as  one  of  the 
cities  selected  for  the  settlement  of  the  refugees.  Some 
twenty  years  later,  in  1693,  the  corporation  of  Water- 
ford,  being  desirous  not  only  that  the  disbanded 
Huguenot  officers  and  soldiers  should  settle  in  the 
place,  but  also  that  persons  skilled  in  the  arts  and 
manufactures  should  become  citizens,  ordered,  "  that 
the  city  and  liberties  do  provide  habitations  for  fifty 
families  of  the  French  Protestants  to  drive  a  trade  of 
linen-manufacture, — they  bringing  with  them  a  stock 
of  money  and  materials  for  their  subsistence  until  flax 
can  be  sown  and  produced  on  the  lands  adjacent ; 
and  that  the  freedom  of  the  city  be  given  them  gratis." 
At  the  same  time,  the  choir  of  the  old  Franciscan 
monastery  was  assigned  to  them,  with  the  assent  of 
the  bishop,  Dr.  Nathaniel  Foy,  himself  descended  from 


CHAP.  XVII.    FRENCH  COLONY  AT PORTARLINGTOX.  311 

a  Protestant  refugee,  for  the  purposes  of  a  French 
church,  the  corporation  guaranteeing  a  stipend  of  £40 
a  year  towards  the  support  of  their  pastor,  the  Rev. 
David  Gervais,  afterwards  a  prebendary  of  Lismore 
Cathedral. 

These  liberal  measures  had  the  effect  of  inducing  a 
considerable  number  of  refugees  to  establish  themselves 
at  Waterford,  and  carry  on  various  branches  of  trade 
and  manufacture.  Some  of  them  became  leading  mer- 
chants in  the  place,  and  rose  to  wealth  and  distinction. 
Thus,  John  Espaignet  was  sheriff  of  the  city  in  1707; 
Jeremy  Gayot  in  1709  ;  and  the  two  brothers  Vashon 
served,  the  one  as  mayor  in  1726,  the  other  as  sheriff 
in  1735.  James  Henry  Reynette  afterwards  held  office 
both  as  sheriff  and  mayor.  The  foreign  wine-trade  of 
the  south  of  Ireland  was  almost  exclusively  conducted 
through  Waterford  by  the  French  wine -merchants, 
some  of  their  principal  stores  being  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood  of  the  French  church.  The  refugees 
also  made  vigorous  efforts  to  establish  the  linen-manu- 
facture in  Waterford,  in  which  they  were  materially 
assisted  by  Louis  Crommelin  and  John  Latrobe  in  the 
first  instance,  and  by  Bishop  Chenevix  in  the  next ; 
and  for  many  years  linen  was  one  of  the  staple  trades 
of  the  place,  although  it  ceased  shortly  after  the  intro- 
duction of  power-looms. 

Another  colony  of  the  refugees  was  established  at 
Portarlington,  which  town  they  may  almost  be  said  to 
have  founded.  The  first  settlers  consisted  principally 
of  retired  French  officers  as  well  as  privates,  who  had 
served  in  the  army  of  King  William.  We  have  already 
referred  to  the  circumstances  connected  with  the  for- 
mation of  this  colony  by  the  Marquis  de  Ruvigny, 
created  Earl  of  Galway,  to  whom  William  granted  the 
estate  of  Portarlington,  which  had  become  forfeited  to 
the  crown  by  the  treason  and  outlawry  of  Sir  Patrick 
Grant,  its  former  owner.  Although  the  grant  was 
revoked  by  the  English  Parliament,  and  the  Earl 
ceased  to  own  the  Portarlington  estate,  he  nevertheless 


312  THE  EXILES  AT  PORT  ARLINGTON.    CHAP.  xvil. 

continued  to  take  the  same  warm  interest  as  before  in 
the  prosperity  of  the  refugee  colony.1 

Among  the  early  settlers  at  Portarlington  were  the 
Marquis  de  Paray,  the  Sieur  de  Haute ville,  Louis  le 
Blanc,  Sieur  de  Pierce,  Charles  de  Ponthieu,  Captain 
d'  Alnuis  and  his  brother,  Abel  Pelissier,  David  d'  Arripe, 
Keuben  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  the  Sieur  de  la  Boissere, 
Guy  de  la  Blachiere,  De  Bonneval,  De  Villier,  Fleury, 
Champagne,  De  Bostaquet,  Franquefort,  Chatcauneuf, 
La  Beaume,  Montpeton  du  Languedoc,  Vicomte  de 
Laval,  Pierre  Goulin,  Jean  la  Ferriere,  De  Gaudry, 
Jean  Lafaurie,  Abel  de  Ligonier,  De  Vignoles,  Anthoine 
de  Ligonier,  and  numerous  others. 

The  greater  number  of  these  noblemen  and  gentle- 
men had  served  with  distinction  under  the  Duke  of 
Schomberg,  La  Melonniere,  La  Caillemotte,  Carnbon, 
and  other  commanders,  in  the  service  of  William  III. 
They  had  been  for  the  most  part  men  of  considerable 
estates  in  their  own  country,  though  they  were  now 
content  to  live  as  exiles  on  the  half-pay  granted  them  by 
the  country  of  their  adoption.  When  they  first  came  in- 
to the  neighbourhood,  the  town  of  Portarlington  could 
scarcely  be  said  to  exist.  The  village  of  Cootletoodra, 
as  it  was  formerly  called,  was  only  a  collection  of 
miserable  huts  unfit  for  human  residence ;  and  until  the 

1  The  Bulletin  de  la  Societt  these  families  to  the  sea-board  ; 
de  VHistoire  du  Protestantisms  after  which,  the  means  would  be 
frangaig  (1868,  p.  69),  contains  provided  for  their  embarkation  for 
a  letter  addressed  by  the  Earl  Ireland.  "  The  King,"  he  says,  "is 
of  Galway  to  David  Barbut,  a  so  touched  at  the  misery  with 
refugee  residing  at  Berne,  in  which  these  families  are  threat- 
January,  1693,wherein  he  informs  ened  where  they  are.  and  perceives 
him  that  King  William  is  greatly  so  clear  lyhow  valuable  their  settle- 
concerned  at  the  distress  of  the  ment  would  be  in  his  kingdom  of 
French  refugees  in  Switzerland,  Ireland,  that  he  is  resolved  to 
and  desires  that  600  families  provide  all  the  money  that  may 
should  proceed  to  Ireland  and  be  required  for  the  purpose.  We 
settle  there.  He  adds  that  the  must  not  lose  any  time  on  this 
KinghasrecommendedtheProtes-  matter;  and  I  hope  that  by  the 
tant  Princes  of  Germany,  and  the  month  of  April,  or  May  at  the 
States-General  of  Holland,  to  pay  latest,  these  families  will  be  on 
the  expense  of  the  transport  of  their  way  to  join  us." 


CHAP.  xvn.       POUT  ARLINGTON  A  MODEL  TO  \YN.        313 

dwellings  designed  for  the  reception  of  the  exiles  bj 
the  Earl  of  Galway  could  be  built,  they  resided  in  the 
adjoining  villages  of  Doolough,  Monasterevin,  Cloney- 
gown,  and  the  ancient  village  of  Lea. 

Portarlington  shortly  became  the  model  town  of  the 
province.  The  dwellings  of  the  strangers  were  dis- 
tinguished for  their  neatness  and  comfort.  Their  farms 
and  gardens  were  patterns  of  tidiness  and  good  manage- 
ment. They  introduced  new  fruit-trees  from  abroad ; 
amongst  others  the  black  Italian  walnut  and  the  jargo- 
nelle pear, — specimens  of  which  still  flourish  at  Portar- 
lington in  vigorous  old  age.  The  planter  of  these  trees 
fought  at  the  Boyne  as  an  ensign  in  the  regiment  of  La 
Melonniere.  The  immigrants  also  introduced  the 
"  espalier  "  with  success ;  and  their  fruit  of  all  kinds  be- 
came widely  celebrated.  Another  favourite  branch  of 
cultivation  was  flowers,  of  which  they  imported  many 
new  sorts;  while  their  vegetables  were  unmatched  in 
Ireland. 

The  exiles  formed  a  highly  select  society,  composed, 
as  it  was,  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  high  culture,  of 
pure  morals,  and  of  gentle  birth  and  manners, — so  dif- 
ferent from  the  roystering  Irish  gentry  of  the  time. 
Though  they  had  suffered  grievous  wrongs  at  the  hands 
of  their  own  countrymen,  they  were  contented,  cheer- 
ful, and  even  gay.1  Traditions  still  exist  of  the  mili- 
tary refugees,  in  their  scarlet  cloaks,  sitting  in  groups 
under  the  old  oaks  in  the  market-place,  sipping  tea  out 
of  their  small  china  cups.  They  had  also  their  balls, 
and  ordinaries,  and  "ridottos"  (places  of  pleasant 
resort)  ;  and  a  great  deal  of  pleasant  visiting  went  on 
amongst  them.  They  continued  to  enjoy  their  favourite 
wine  of  Bordeaux,  which  was  imported  for  them  in 

1  An  Irish  correspondent,  how-  choly,  cast  of  countenance, — the 

ever,  extensively  acquainted  with  same  sort  of  sad  expression  which 

the  descendants  of  the  Huguenots,  may  be  observed   in  the  Polish 

says  that.  "  so  far  as  his  observa-  Jews,  doubtless  the  result  of  long 

tion  goes,  they,  for  the  most  part,  persecution  and  suffering." 
bear  a  pensive,  not  to  say  melan- 


314  CHURCH  AT  PORTARLINGTON.        CHAI>.  xvn. 

considerable  quantities  by  their  fellow-exiles,  the 
French  wine-merchants  of  Waterford  and  Dublin. 

There  were  also  numerous  refugees  of  a  humbler 
class  settled  in  the  place,  who  carried  on  various  trades. 
Thus  the  Fouberts  carried  on  a  manufacture  of  linen. 
Many  of  the  minor  tradesmen  were  French — bakers, 
butchers,  masons,  smiths,  carpenters,  tailors,  and 
shoemakers.  The  Blancs,  butchers,  transmitted  the 
business  from  father  to  son  for  more  than  150  years; 
and  they  are  still  recognisable  at  Portarlington  under 
the  name  of  Blong.  The  Micheaus,  farmers,  had  been 
tenants  on  the  estates  of  the  Robillard  family  in 
Champagne :  they  were  now  tenants  of  the  same  family 
at  Portarlington.  One  of  the  Micheaus  was  sexton  of 
the  French  church  of  the  town,  until  within  the  last  few 
years.  La  Borde  the  mason,  Capel  the  blacksmith,  and 
Gautier  the  carpenter,  came  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
Bordeaux;  and  their  handiwork,  much  of  which  still 
exists  at  Portarlington  and  the  neighbourhood,  bears 
indications  of  their  foreign  training  and  artistic  culture. 

The  refugees,  as  was  their  invariable  practice  where 
they  settled  in  sufficient  numbers,  early  formed  them- 
selves into  a  congregation,  and  a  church  was  erected 
for  their  accommodation,  in  which  a  long  succession  of 
able  ministers  officiated,  the  last  of  whom  was  Charles 
de  Vignoles,  afterwards  Dean  of  Ossory.1  The  service 
was  conducted  in  French  down  to  the  year  1817;  since 

1  The  Register  of  the  French  5  Octr.  1696 —        Belagniere 

church  is  still  preserved.     The  1  Deer.  1696 — 98     Gillet 

entries    begin    in    1694.      The  15  May  1698 —        Durassus 

Register    contains    the    names,  „      „  „                Ducasse 

families,  and  localities  in  France,  26  June  1698 — 1702  Daillon. 

from  whence    the  exiles  came.  Anglicans. 

The  first  volume  still  wears  the  3  Octr.  1702—29     De  Bonneval 

coarse  brown  paper  cover  with  14  Aug.  1729 — 39     DesVoeux 

which  it  was  originally  invested  17  Feb.  1739 — 67     Caillard 

by  its  foreign  guardians  nearly  2  Sep.  1767 — 93     Des  Vceux 

190  years  ago.     The  following  is  Jan.  1793 — 18 17 Vignoles j^tf 

a  list  of  the  pastors  of  the  Port-  1817 —        Charles  Vig- 

arlington  Church  : —  nolesjilt. 

Calvinists. 
Depuis    1694—86     Gillet 


CHAP.  xvil.      HIGH  STANDARD  OF  EMIGRATION.       31ft 

then  it  has  been  discontinued,  the  language  having 
by  that  time  ceased  to  be  understood  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. 

Besides  a  church,  the  refugees  also  possessed  a  school, 
which  long  enjoyed  a  high  reputation  for  the  classical 
education  which  it  provided  for  the  rising  generation. 
At  an  early  period,  the  boys  seem  to  have  been  clothed 
as  well  as  educated,  the  memorandum-book  of  an  old 
officer  of  the  JBoyne  containing  an  entry,  April  20, 1727, 
"  making  six  sutes  of  cloths  for  ye  blewbois,  at  18  pee. 
per  sute,  00 :  09  :  00."  M.  Le  Fevre,  founder  of  the 
Charter  Schools,  was  the  first  schoolmaster  in  Port- 
arlington.  He  is  said  to  have  been  the  father  of  Sterne's 
"  poor  sick  lieutenant."1  The  Bonnevaux  and  Tersons 
were  amongst  the  subsequent  teachers,  and  many  sons 
and  daughters  of  the  principal  Protestants  in  Ireland 
passed  under  their  hands.  Among  the  more  distin- 
guished men  who  received  the  best  part  of  their  educa- 
tion at  Portarlington,  may  be  mentioned  the  Marquis  of 
Wellesley  and  his  brother  the  Earl  of  Mornington, 
the  Marquis  of  Westmeath,  the  Right  Hon.  John  Wil- 
son Croker,  Sir  Henry  Ellis  (of  the  British  Museum), 
Daniel  W.  Webber,  and  many  others. 

Lady  Morgan,  referring  in  her  Memoirs  to  the 
French  colony  at  Portarlington,  observes:  "The  dis- 
persion of  the  French  Huguenots,  who  settled  in  great 
numbers  in  Ireland,  was  one  of  the  greatest  boons  con- 
ferred by  the  misgovernment  of  other  countries  upon 
our  own.  Eminent  preachers,  eminent  lawyers,  and 
clever  statesmen,  whose  names  are  not  unknown  to  the 
literature  and  science  of  France,  occupied  high  places 
in  the  professions  in  Dublin.  Of  these  I  may  mention, 

1  The    Portarlington    Register  Favre.  Lieutenant  a  la  pentioni 

contains  the  following  record : —  dont  1'ame  estait  allee  a  Dieu,  son 

"  Sepulture    du    Dimanche    23e  corps  a  e~te  enterr^  par  Monsieur 

Mars,  1717-18.    Le   Samedy  22e  Bonneval,  ministre  de  cette  Eglise 

du  present  mois  entre  minuet  et  dans  le  cemitiere  de  ce  lieu.    A 

une  heure.  est  mort  en  la  foy  du  Lijronier  Bonneval   ™ip.     Louis 

Seigneur  et  dans  Tesp^ranre  de  la  Buliod." 
glorieuse  resurrection,  Monsieur 


316  INDUSTRIAL  SETTLEMENTS  IN  IRELAND.  CHAr.xvn. 

as  personal  acquaintances,  the  Saurins,  the  Lefanus, 
Espinasses,  Favers,  Corneilles,  Le  Bas,  and  many  others 
whose  families  still  remain  in  the  Irish  metropolis."1 

It  may  here  be  noted  that  the  social  standard  of  the 
Huguenot  immigration  into  Ireland  was  generally  higher 
than  that  of  the  same  immigration  into  England,  prin- 
cipally because  of  the  large  number  of  retired  French 
officers,  most  of  them  of  noble  and  gentle  blood,  who 
settled  at  Portarlington,  Waterford,  and  the  other 
southern  Irish  towns,  shortly  after  the  conclusion  of  the 
peace  of  Utrecht.  Some  of  these  retired  veterans  bore 
the  noblest  historic  names  in  France.  Their  sons  and 
their  daughters  intermarried,  and  thus  kept  up  the 
Huguenot  line,  usually  to  the  second  and  third,  and 
often  to  the  fourth  generation.  Their  martial  instincts 
survived  their  separation  from  the  country  of  their 
birth ;  and  to  this  day  a  large  proportion  of  the  de- 
scendants of  the  Huguenot  settlers  in  Ireland  are  to  be 
found  serving  as  officers  in  the  British  army ;  whilst 
many  others  belong  to  the  Church  and  the  learned  pro- 
fessions. Thus,  among  the  MSS  2  left  by  Dr.  Letablere, 
Dean  of  Tuam — son  of  Rend  de  la  Douespe,  representa- 
tive of  the  illustrious  family  of  L'Establere  in  Picardy 
— we  find  lists  of  persons  descended  from  Huguenot 
refugees  in  Ireland;  among  whom  there  were  two  gene- 
rals, six  colonels,  five  majors,  and  twenty-four  captains, 
besides  subaltern  officers.  At  the  same  time  there 
were  then  serving  in  the  Irish  Church,  one  bishop  of 
Huguenot  extraction  (Dr.  Chevenix),  three  deans 
(Brocas,  Champagne,  and  Letablere),  and  thirty-three 
clergymen,  besides  nineteen  ministers  of  French 
churches  in  different  parts  of  Ireland.  The  Dean's 
papers  also  contain  a  list  of  about  a  hundred  persons 
established  in  Dublin  in  1763,  carrying  on  business 
there  as  bankers,  physicians,  attorneys,  merchants, 

1  LADY  MORGAN — Memoirs,  i.  by  11.  W.  Litton,  Esq.,  one  of  the 
106.  surviving  representatives  of  Dr. 

2  These     papers    have     been  Letablere  by  the  female  line 
kindly  submitted  for  our  inspec- 


CHAP.  XVTI.        THE  INDUSTRY  OF  BELFAST.  317 

goldsmiths,  manufacturers,  and  traders  of  various 
kinds. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  industrial  settlements 
of  the  refugee  French  and  Flemings  in  Ireland,  were 
generally  so  much  smaller  than  those  which  they 
effected  in  different  parts  of  England, — otherwise  the 
condition  of  that  unfortunate  country  would  probably 
have  been  very  different  from  that  in  which  we  now  find 
it.  The  only  part  of  Ireland  in  which  the  Huguenots  left 
a  permanent  impression  was  in  the  north,  where  the 
branches  of  industry  which  they  planted  took  firm 
root,  and  continue  to  flourish  with  extraordinary 
vigour  to  this  day.  But  in  the  south  it  was  very 
different.  Though  the  natural  facilities  for  trade  at 
Cork,  Limerick,  and  Waterford,  were  much  greater 
than  those  of  the  northern  towns,  the  refugees  never 
obtained  any  firm  footing  i»r  made  any  satisfactory 
progress  in  that  quarter.  TLeir  colonies  at  first  main- 
tained only  a  sickly  existence,  and  they  gradually  fell 
into  decay.  The  last  blow  was  given  to  them  by 
Strikes. 

One  has  only  to  look  at  Belfast  and  the  busy  hives 
of  industry  in  that  neighbourhood,  and  to  note  the 
condition  of  the  northern  province  of  Ulster — existing 
under  precisely  the  same  laws  as  govern  the  south, — 
to  find  how  -seriously  the  social  progress  of  Ireland  has 
been  affected  by  the  want  of  that  remunerative  employ- 
ment which  the  refugees  were  always  so  instrumental 
in  providing  in  the  districts  in  which  they  settled, — 
wherever  they  found  a  population  willing  to  be  taught 
by  them,  and  to  follow  in  the  path  which  they  unde- 
viatingly  pursued — of  peaceful,  contented,  and  honour- 
able iridustrv. 


CFAPTEK  XVIII. 

DESCENDANTS  OF  THE  KEFUGEES. 

ALTHOUGH  300  years  have  passed  since  the  first  reli- 
gious persecutions  in  Flanders  and  France  compelled 
so  large  a  number  of  Protestants  to  fly  from  those 
countries  and  take  refuge  in  England,  and  although 
nearly  200  years  have  passed  since  the  second  great 
emigration  from  France  took  place  in  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV.,  the  descendants  of  the  "gentle  and  profit- 
able strangers  "  are  still  recognisable  amongst  us.  In 
the  course  of  the  generations  which  have  come  and 
gone  since  the  dates  of  their  original  settlement,  they 
have  laboured  skilfully  and  diligently,  for  the  advance- 
ment of  British  trade,  commerce,  and  manufactures  ; 
while  there  is  scarcely  a  branch  of  literature,  science,  or 
art,  in  which  they  have  not  honourably  distinguished 
themselves. 

Three  hundred  years  form  a  long  period  in  the  life 
of  a  nation.  During  that  time  many  of  the  distinctive 
characteristics  of  the  original  refugees  must  necessarily 
have  become  effaced  in  the  persons  of  their  descend- 
ants. Indeed,  by  far  the  greater  number  of  them 
before  long  became  completely  Anglicised,  and  ceased 
to  be  traceable  except  by  their  names;  and  even  these 
have  for  the  most  part  become  converted  into  names  of 
English  sound. 

So  long  as  the  foreigners  continued  to  cherish  the 
hope  of  returning  to  their  native  country,  on  the  pos- 
sible cessation  of  the  persecutions  there,  they  waited 
and  worked  on,  with  that  end  in  view.  But  as  the 


CHAP.  xvin.       DESCENDANTS  OF  THE  FLEMINGS.         319 

persecutions  only  waxed  hotter,  they  at  length  gradu- 
ally gave  up  all  hope  of  returning.  They  claimed  and 
obtained  letters  of  naturalisation ;  and  though  many 
of  them  continued  for  several  generations  to  worship 
in  their  native  language,  they  were  content  to  live 
and  die  as  English  subjects.  Their  children  grew  up 
amidst  English  associations,  and  they  desired  to  forget 
that  their  fathers  had  been  fugitives  and  foreigners  in 
the  land.  They  cared  not  to  remember  the  language 
or  to  retain  the  names  which  marked  them  as  distinct 
from  the  people  amongst  whom  they  lived  ;  and  hence 
many  of  the  descendants  of  the  refugees,  in  the  second 
or  third  generation,  abandoned  their  foreign  names, 
and  gradually  ceased  to  frequent  the  distinctive  places 
of  worship  which  their  fathers  had  founded. 

Indeed,  many  of  the  early  Flemings  had  no  sooner 
settled  in  England  and  become  naturalised,  than  they 
threw  off  their  foreign  names  and  assumed  English 
ones.  Thus,  as  we  have  seen,  Hoek,  the  Flemish 
brewer  in  South wark,  assumed  the  name  of  Leeke; 
while  Haestricht,  the  Flemish  manufacturer  at  Bow, 
took  that  of  James.  Mr.  Pryme,  formerly  professor  of 
political  economy  in  the  University  of  Cambridge,  and 
representative  of  that  town  in  Parliament,  whose 
ancestors  were  refugees  from  Ypres  in  Flanders,  has 
informed  us  that  his  grandfather  dropped  the  "  de  la  " 
originally  prefixed  to  the  family  name,  in  consequence 
of  the  strong  anti-Gallican  feeling  which  prevailed  in 
this  country  during  the  Seven  Years'  War  of  1756-63, 
though  his  son  has  since  assumed  it ;  and  the  same 
circumstance  doubtless  led  many  others  to  change 
their  foreign  names  to  those  of  an  English  sound. 

Nevertheless,  a  large  number  of  purely  Flemish 
names  are  still  to  be  found  in  various  parts  of  England 
and  Ireland,  where  the  foreigners  originally  settled. 
They  have  been  on  the  whole  better  preserved  in  the 
rural  districts  than  in  London,  where  the  social  friction 
was  greater,  and  rubbed  off  the  foreign  peculiarities 
more  quickly.  In  the  lace  towns  of  the  west  of  Eng- 


320  THE  DES  BOUVERYES.  CHAP.  xvm. 

land  such  names  as  Raymond,  Spiller,  Brock,  Stocker, 
Groot,  Rochett,  and  Kettel,  are  still  common  ;  and  the 
same  trades  have  continued  in  some  of  their  families 
for  generations.  The  Walloon  Goupes,  who  settled  in 
Wiltshire  as  clothmakers  more  than  300  years  since, 
are  still  known  there  as  the  Guppys,  and  the  Thun- 
guts  as  Dogoods  and  Toogoods. 

In  the  account  of  the  early  refugee  Protestants 
given  in  the  preceding  pages,  it  has  been  pointed  out 
that  the  first  settlers  in  England  came  principally 
from  Lille,  Turcoing,  and  the  towns  situated  along  both 
.sides  of  the  present  French  frontier — the  country  of 
the  French  Walloons,  though  then  subject  to  the  crown 
of  Spain.  Among  the  first  of  these  refugees  was  one 
Laurent  des  Bouveryes,1  a  native  of  Sainghin,  near 
Lille.  He  first  settled  at  Sandwich  as  a  maker  of 
serges,  in  1567;  after  which,  in  the  following  year,  he 
removed  to  Canterbury  to  join  the  Walloon  settlement 
there.  The  Des  Bouveryes  family  prospered  greatly. 
In  the  third  generation  we  find  Edward,  grandson  of 
the  refugee,  a  wealthy  Turkey  merchant  in  London, 
In  the  fourth  generation  the  head  of  the  family  was 
created  a  baronet ;  in  the  fifth,  a  viscount ;  and  in  the 
sixth,  an  earl ;  the  original  Laurent  des  Bouveryes 
being  at  this  day  represented  in  the  House  of  Lords 
by  the  Earl  of  Radnor. 

About  the  same  time  that  the  Des  Bouveryes  came 
into  England  from  Lille,  the  Hugessens  arrived  from 
Dunkirk,  and  settled  at  Dover.  They  afterwards 
removed  to  Sandwich,  where  they  prospered ;  and  in 
the  course  of  a  few  generations,  we  find  them  enrolled 
among  the  county  aristocracy  of  Kent,  and  their  name 
borne  by  the  ancient  family  of  the  Knatchbulls.  It  is 
not  the  least  remarkable  circumstance  connected  with 
this  family,  that  a  member  of  it  now  represents  the 

1  The  Bouveryes  were  men  of  in  1664,  it  is  stated,  "Lafamille 

mark  in  their    native  country.  de  Bouverie  est  reconnu  passer 

Thus,  in  the  Histoire  de  Cain-  plusieurs  siecles  entre  les  patrices 

bray  ct  du  Cambrcmsis,  published  de  Camhray." 


CHAP.  xvur.  FA  MILIES  DESCENDED  Fit  OMFLEM1NGS.Z21 

borough  of  Sandwich,  one  of  the  earliest  seats  of  the 
refugees  in  England. 

Among  other  notable  Flemish  immigrants  may  be 
numbered  the  Houblons,  who  gave  the  Bank  of 
England  its  first  governor,  and  from  one  of  whose 
daughters  the  late  Lord  Palmerston  was  lineally 
descended.1  The  Van  Sittarts,  Jansens,  Courteens, 
Van  Milderts,  Vanlores,  Corsellis,  and  Vannecks,2  were 
widely  and  honourably  known  in  their  day  as 
London  bankers  or  merchants.  Sir  Matthew  Decker, 
besides  being  eminent  as  a  London  merchant,  was 
distinguished  for  the  excellence  of  his  writings  on 
commercial  subjects,  then  little  understood.  He  made 
an  excellent  member  of  Parliament:  he  was  elected 
for  Bishop's  Castle  in  1719. 

Various  members  of  the  present  landed  gentry 
trace  their  descent  from  the  Flemish  refugees.  Thus 
Jacques  Hoste,  the  founder  of  the  present  family 
(represented  by  Sir  W.  L.  S.  Hoste,  Bart.),  fled  from 
Bruges,  of  which  his  father  was  governor  in  1569  ; 
the  Tyssens  (now  represented  by  W.  Q.  Tyssen 
Amhurst,  Esq.,  of  Foulden)  fled  from  Ghent ;  and  the 
Cruses  of  Norfolk  fled  from  Hownescout  in  Flanders. 
All  of  them  took  refuge  in  England. 

Among  artists,  architects,  and  engineers  of  Flemish 
descent  we  find  Grinling  Gibbons,  the  wood-sculptor ; 
Mark  Gerrard,  the  portrait-painter ;  Sir  John  Van- 
brugh,  the  architect  and  play-writer;  Richard  Cos  way, 
R.A.,3  the  miniature-painter;  and  Vermuyden  and 
Westerdyke,  the  engineers  employed  to  reclaim  the 
drowned  lands  in  the  Fens.  The  Tradescants,  the 
celebrated  antiquarians,  were  also  of  the  same  origin.* 


1  Anne,  sister  and  heir  of  Sir  *  Cosway  belonged  to  a  family, 
Richard   Houblon,  was  married  originally  Flemish,  long  settled 
to  Henry  Temple,  created  Lord  at  Tiverton,  Devon.     His  father 
Palmerston  in  1722.  was    master    of   the    grammar- 

2  The  Vanneck  family  is  now  school  there. 

represented  in  the  peerage    by  *  The  Tatler,  vol.  i.,  ed.  1786, 

Baron  Huntingfield.  p.  435,  in  a  note,  says  :  "  John 

21 


322  THE  FLEMISH  DE  GROTES.        CHAP.  xvm. 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  families  of  the 
Netherlands  was  that  of  the  De  Grotes  or  Groots, 
of  which  Hugo  Grotius  was  an  illustrious  member. 
When  the  Spanish  persecutions  were  at  their  height 
in  the  Low  Countries,  several  of  the  Protestant  De 
Grotes,  who  were  eminent  merchants  at  Antwerp, 
fled  from  that  city,  and  took  refuge,  some  in  England 
and  others  in  Germany.  Several  of  the  Flemish  De 
Grotes  had  before  then  settled  in  England.  Thus, 
among  the  letters  of  Denization  mentioned  in  Mr. 
Brewer's  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Henry  VIII.,  we 
find  the  following  : — 

"  Ambrose  de  Grote,  merchant  of  the  Duchy  of  Brabant 
(Letters  of  Denization,  Patent  llth  June,  1510,  2  Henry 
VIII.) 

"  12  Feby.,  1512-13. — Protection  for  one  year  for  Ambrose 
and  Peter  de  Grote,  merchants  of  Andwarp,  in  Brabant,  going 
in  the  retinue  of  Sir  Gilbert  Talbot,  Deputy  of  Calais." 

One  of  the  refugee  Grotes  is  supposed  to  have 
settled  as  a  merchant  at  Bremen,  from  which  city  the 
grandfather  of  the  late  George  Grote,  the  historian  of 
Greece,  came  over  to  London  early  in  last  century, 
and  established  a  mercantile  house,  and  afterwards  a 
banking  house,  both  of  which  flourished.  Mr.  Grote 
was  also  of  Huguenot  blood  through  his  mother,  who 
was  descended  from  Colonel  Blosset,  commander  of 
"Blosset's  Foot,"  the  scion  of  an  ancient  Protestant 
family  of  Touraine.  He  was  an  officer  in  the  army  of 
Queen  Anne,  and  the  proprietor  of  a  considerable  estate 
in  the  county  of  Dublin. 

The  great  French  immigration,  which  occurred  at 
the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  having  been 
the  most  recent,  has  left  much  more  noticeable  traces 

Tradescant,  senior,  is  supposed  to  were  very  ingenious  persons,  and 

have  been  of  Dutch  or  Flemish  were  held  in  esteem  for  their 

extraction,  and  to  have  settled  in  early  promotion  and  culture  of 

this  kingdom  probably  about  the  botany  and  natural  history.   The 

end  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign.  son  formed  the  Tradescaut  mu- 

or  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  seum  at  Oxford, 
of  James    I."     Father  and  son 


CHAP,  xviii.   CHANGES  IN  FRENCH  FAMILY  NAMES.   323 

in  English  family  history  and  nomenclature,  notwith- 
standing the  large  proportion  of  the  refugees  and  their 
descendants  who  threw  aside  their  French  names,  or, 
rather,  translated  them  into  English.  Thus,  L'Oiseau 
became  Bird ;  Le  Jeune,  Young ;  Du  Bois,  Wood ;  Le 
Blanc,  White  ;  Le  Noir,  Black ;  Le  Maur,  Brown  ;  Le 
Roy,  King ;  Lacroix,  Cross ;  Le  Monnier,  Miller ;  Ton- 
nelier,  Cooper;  Le  Maitre,  Masters;  Dulau,  Waters; 
Sauvage,  Savage  and  Wild.  Some  of  the  Lefevres 
changed  their  name  to  the  English  equivalent  of 
Smith,  as  was  the  case  with  the  ancestor  of  Sir  Culling 
Eardley  Smith,  Bart.,  a  French  refugee  whose  original 
name  was  Le  Fevre.  Many  names  were  strangely 
altered  in  their  conversion  from  French  into  English. 
Jolifemme  was  freely  translated  into  Pretyinan1 — a 
name  well  known  in  the  Church;  Momerie  became 
Mummery,  a  common  name  at  Dover;  and  Planche 
became  Plank,  of  which  there  are  still  instances  at 
Canterbury  and  Southampton.  At  Oxford,  the  name 
of  Willamise  was  traced  back  to  Villebois  ;  Taillebois 
became  Talboys ;  Le  Coq,  Laycock ;  Bouchier,  Butcher 
or  Boxer ;  Boyer,  Bower ;  Bois,  Boys ;  Mesurier,  Mea- 
sure; Mahieu,  Mayhew;  Bourgeois,  Burgess;  Souverain, 
Suffren  ;  De  Vere,  Weir ;  Coquerel,  Cockerill ;  Drouet, 
Drewitt;  D'Aeth,  Death;  D'Orleans,  Dorling.  Other 
pure  French  names  were  dreadfully  vulgarised.  Thus 
Conde  became  Gundy ;  Chapuis,  Shoppee  ;  De  Preux, 
Diprose ;  De  Moulins,  Mullins  ;  Pelletier,  Pelter ; 
Huyghens,  Huggins  or  Higgins ;  and  Beaufoy,  Boffy  ! 2 


1  A  correspondent  informs  us,  was,  in  the  orthography  of  hii 
that  some   years  since  he  saw  ancestors,  a  Despard. 

over  a  shop  door   at  Dover  the  Among    other   conversions  of 

words      "  Susanne      Handsome-  French  into  English  names  may 

bodie,"  probably  a  rough  render-  be  mentioned  the  following  : — 

ing  of  the  same  name  of  "  Joli-  Letellier,  converted  into  Taylour; 

femme.1'  Brasseur  into  Brassey ;  Batchelier 

2  Mr.  Lower,  in  his  Patrony-  into  Bachelor ;  Lenoir  into  Len- 
nica  JSritannica,  suggests  that  nard;  De  Lean  into  Dillon;  Pigou 
Richard    Despair,   a  poor   man  into  Pigott;  Breton  into  Britton; 
buried  at  East  Grinstead  in  1726,  Dieudonn    into    Dudney ;    Bau- 


324  FRENCH  NAMES  PRESER  VED.      CHAP.  xvm. 

Many  pure  French  names  have,  however,  been  pre- 
served ;  and  one  need  only  turn  over  the  pages  of  a 
London  Directory  to  recognise  the  large  proportion 
which  the  descendants  of  the  Huguenots  continue  to 
form,  of  the  modern  population  of  the  metropolis. 
But  a  short  time  since,  in  reading  the  report  of  a 
meeting  of  the  district  board  of  works  at  Wandsworth 
— where  the  refugees  settled  in  such  numbers  as  to 
form  a  considerable  congregation — we  recognised  the 
names  of  Lobjoit,  Baringer,  Fourdrinier,  Poupart,  and 
others,  unmistakably  French.  Such  names  are  con- 
stantly "  cropping  out "  in  modern  literature,  science, 
art,  and  manufactures.  Thus  we  recognise  those  of 
Delaine  and  Fonblanque  in  the  press;  Rigaud  and 
Roget  in  science ;  Dargan  (originally  Dargent)  in 
railway  construction  ;  Pigou  in  gunpowder ;  Gillot  in 
steel  pens  ;  Courage  in  beer ;  and  Courtauld  in  silk. 

That  the  descendants  of  the  Huguenots  have  vindi- 
cated and  continued  to  practise  that  liberty  of  thought 
and  worship  for  which  their  fathers  sacrificed  so  much, 
is  sufficiently  obvious  from  the  fact  that  among  them 
we  find  men  holding  such  widely  different  views  as 
the  brothers  Newman,  Father  Faber  and  James  Mar- 
tineau,  Dr.  Pusey  and  the  Rev.  Hugh  Stowell.  Dr. 
Arnold's  mother  was  a  Delafield,  and  the  Rev.  Sidney 
Smith's  a  D'Olier.  The  latter  was  accustomed  to  at- 
tribute much  of  his  constitutional  gaiety  to  his  mother, 
whom  he  characterised  as  a  woman  "  of  noble  counte- 
nance and  as  noble  a  mind." 

From  the  peerage  to  the  working  classes,  the  de- 
scendants of  the  refugees  pervade,  to  this  day,  the 
various  ranks  of  English  society.  The  Queen  of 
England  herself  is  related  to  them,  through  her 
descent  from  Sophia  Dorothea,  grand-daughter  of  the 


dorr  into  Baudry  ;  Guilbert  into  Savery  ;    Gebon    into    Gibbon  ; 

Gilbert ;    Koch    into    Cox  ;  Re-  Scardeville  into  Sharwell ;  Leve- 

nalls  into   Reynolds ;    Merineau  reau  into  Lever ;   and  so  on  with 

into  Meryon  ;  Petit  into  Pettit ;  many  more. 
Reveil  into  Revill ;  Saveloy  into 


CHAP,  xviil.     THE  QUEEN  AND  THE  PEERAGE.  325 

Marquis  d'Olbreuse,  a  Protestant  nobleman  of  Poitou. 
The  Marquis  was  one  of  the  numerous  French  exiles 
who  took  refuge  in  Brandenburg  on  the  Revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes.  The  Duke  of  Zell  married  his 
only  daughter,  whose  issue  was  Sophia  Dorothea,  the 
wife  of  George  Louis,  Elector  of  Hanover,  afterwards 
George  I.  of  England.  The  son  of  Sophia  Dorothea 
succeeded  to  the  English  throne  as  George  II,  and 
her  daughter  married  Frederick  William,  afterwards 
King  of  Prussia;  and  thus  the  Huguenot  blood  con- 
tinues to  run  in  the  royal  families  of  the  two  great 
Protestant  states  of  the  north. 

Several  descendants  of  French  Huguenots  have 
become  elevated  to  the  British  peerage.  Of  these  the 
most  ancient  is  the  family  of  Trench,  originally  De  la 
Tranche,  the  head  of  which  is  the  Earl  of  Clancarty. 
Frederick,  Lord  of  La  Tranche  in  Poitou,  took  refuge 
in  England  about  the  year  1574,  shortly  after  the 
Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  He  settled  for  a  time 
in  Northumberland,  from  whence  he  passed  over  into 
Ireland.  Of  his  descendants,  one  branch  founded  the 
peerage  of  Clancarty,  and  another  that  of  Ashtown. 
Several  members  of  the  family  have  held  high  offices 
in  church  and  state ;  among  whom  may  be  mentioned 
Power  le  Poer  Trench,  the  last  Archbishop  of  Tuam, 
and  the  present  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  in  whom  the 
two  Huguenot  names  of  Trench  and  Chenevix  are 
honourably  united. 

Among  other  peers  of  Huguenot  origin  are  Lord 
North  wick,  descended  from  John  Rushout,  a  French 
refugee  established  in  London  in  the  reign  of  Charles 
I. ;  Lord  de  Blaquiere,  descended  from  John  de 
Blacquire,  a  scion  of  a  noble  French  family,  who 
settled  as  a  merchant  in  London  shortly  after  the 
Revocation;  and  Lord  Rendlesham,  descended  from 
Peter  Thelusson,  grandson  of  a  French  refugee  who 
about  the  same  time  took  refuge  in  Switzerland. 

Besides  these  elevations  to  the  peerage  of  descend- 
ants of  Huguenots  in  the  direct  male  line,  many  of  the 


326    THE  HUG  UENOTS  AND  THE  PEEP  A  GE.    CHAP.  xvm. 

daughters  of  distinguished  refugees  and  their  offspring 
formed  unions  with  noble  families,  and  led  to  a  further 
intermingling  of  the  blood  of  the  Huguenots  with 
that  of  the  English  aristocracy.  Thus  the  blood  of  the 
noble  family  of  Ruviguy  mingles  with  that  of  Russell ' 
(Duke  of  Bedford)  and  Cavendish  (Duke  of  Devon- 
shire) ;  of  Schomberg  with  that  of  Osborne  (Duke  of 
Leeds) ;  of  Champagne'  (n£e  De  la  R-ochefoucauld) 
with  that  of  Forbes  (Earl  of  Granard) ;  of  Portal  and 
Boileau  with  that  of  Elliott  (Earl  of  Minto) ;  of  Auriol 
with  that  of  Hay  Drummond  (Earl  of  Kinnoul)  ;  of 
D'Albiac  with  that  of  Innes-Ker  (Duke  of  Rox- 
burghe) ;  of  La  Touche  with  that  of  Butler-Danvers 
(Earl  of  Lanesborough) ;  of  Montolieu  with  that  of 
Murray  (Lord  Elibank) ;  and  so  on  in  numerous  other 
instances. 

Among  recent  peerages  are  those  of  Taunton, 
Eversley,  and  Romilly,  all  direct  descendants  of  Hu- 
guenots. The  first  Labouchere  who  settled  in  England 
was  Peter  Caesar  Labouchere.  He  had  originally  taken 
refuge  from  the  persecution  of  Louis  XIV.  in  Holland, 
where  he  joined  the  celebrated  house  of  Hope  at 
Amsterdam ;  and  he  came  over  to  London  as  the 
representative  of  that  firm.  He  eventually  acquired 
wealth  and  distinction;  and  the  head  of  the  family  now 
sits  in  the  House  of  Lords  as  Baron  Taunton. 

The  Lefevre  family  came  originally  from  Normandy, 
where  they  held  considerable  landed  property.  Peter 
Lefevre,  born  in  1650,  had  scarcely  succeeded  to  his 
paternal  estates,  when  he  was  forced  to  fly  with  his 

1  Rachel,  daughter   of  Daniel  William  Lord  Russell,  known  as 

de  Massue,  Seigneur  de  Ruvigny,  "  patriot."    Every  one  has  heard 

married     Thomas    Wriothesley,  of  his  celebrated  wife,  the  daugh- 

Earl  of  Southampton,  in  1634.  ter    of   a    Ruvigny,  whose    son 

The- Countess  died  in  1637,  leav-  afterwards  became  second  Duke 

ing  two  daughters,  one  of  whom,  of     Bedford,    and    whose    two 

Elizabeth,    afterwards    married  daughters  married,  one  the  Duke 

the  Earl  of  Gainsborough,  and  of  Devonshire,  and  the  other  the 

the  other,  Rachel,  married,  first  Marquis  of  Granby. 
Lord    Vaughan,   and     secondly 


CHAP.  rmi.    THE  LEFBVRS8  AtfD  HOMTLL79.  327 

family  into  England,  rather  than  renounce  his  faith. 
He  first  settled  at  Canterbury,  and  there  embarked  in 
trade  with  the  capital  he  had  brought  with  him.  One 
of  his  sons,  John,  entered  the  army,  and  rose  to  the 
rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel,  serving  under  Marlborough 
through  his  campaigns  in  the  Low  Countries.  He 
afterwards  resided  at  Walthamstow,  and  held  the  office 
of  High  Sheriff  of  Essex.  The  younger  brother,  Isaac 
(from  whom  Lord  Eversley,  late  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  is  lineally  descended),  was  put  apprentice 
to  trade  at  Canterbury ;  and,  after  his  father's  death, 
he  removed  to  Spitalfields,  where  he  set  up  for  himself 
as  a  scarlet  dyer,  and  was  very  successful.  His  son 
John  possessed  considerable  property  at  Old  Ford  and 
Bromley,  which  is  still  in  the  family;  and  his  only 
daughter  Helena  having  married  Charles  Shaw  of 
Lincoln's  Inn,  in  1789,  their  descendants  have  since 
borne  the  name  and  arms  of  the  Lefevres. 

The  story  of  the  Romilly  family  is  well  known 
through  the  autobiography  left  by  the  late  Sir  Samuel 
Romilly  and  published  by  his  sons.1  The  great-grand- 
father of  Sir  Samuel  was  a  considerable  landed  pro- 
prietor in  the  neighbourhood  of  Montpellier.  Though 
a  Protestant  by  conviction,  he  conformed  to  Roman 
Catholicism,  with  the  object  of  saving  the  family  pro- 
perty for  the  benefit  of  his  only  son.  Yet  he  secretly 
worshipped  after  his  own  principles,  as  well  as  brought 
up  his  son  in  them.  The  youth  indeed  imbibed  Protes- 
tantism so  deeply,  that  in  the  year  1701,  when  only 
seventeen,  he  went  to  Geneva  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
receiving  the  sacrament, — the  administration  of  the 
office  by  Protestant  ministers  in  France  still  rendering 
them  liable,  if  detected,  to  death  or  condemnation  to 
the  galleys  for  life.  At  Geneva,  young  Romilly  met 
the  celebrated  preacher  Saurin,  then  in  the  height  of 
his  fame,  who  happened  to  be  there  on  a  visit.  The 

1  Memmrs  of  tlie  Life  of  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  written  by  himself. 
F.'lited  by  his  Sons.  3  Vols.  London.  1840. 


328  SIR  SAMUEL  ROMILLY.  CHAP.  xvm. 

result  of  his  conversations  with  Saurin  was  the  for- 
mation in  his  mind  of  a  fixed  determation  to  leave  for 
ever  his  native  country,  his  parents,  and  the  inheritance 
which  awaited  him,  and  trust  to  his  own  industry 
for  a  subsistence  in  some  foreign  land,  where  he  might 
be  free  to  worship  God  according  to  conscience. 

Young  Romilly  accordingly  set  out  for  London ;  and 
it  was  not  until  he  had  landed  in  England  that  he 
apprised  his  father  of  the  resolution  which  he  had  formed. 
After  a  few  3rears'  residence  in  London,  where  he 
married  Judith  de  Monsallier,  the  daughter  of  another 
refugee,  Mr.  Romilly  began  the  business  of  a  wax- 
bleacher  at  Hoxton,  his  father  supplying  him  from 
time  to  time  with  money.  But  a  sad  reverse  of  fortune 
ensued  on  the  death  of  his  father.  A  distant  relative, 
who  was  a  Catholic,  took  possession  of  the  family  estate, 
and  further  remittances  from  France  were  stopped. 
Then  followed  difficulty,  bankruptcy,  and  distress; 
and  the  landowner's  son,  unable  to  bear  up  under  his 
calamities,  sank  under  them  at  an  early  age,  leaving  a 
widow  and  a  family  of  eight  children  almost  entirely 
unprovided  for. 

The  youngest  son,  Peter,  father  of  the  future  Sir 
Samuel,  was  bound  apprentice  to  a  French  refugee 
jeweller,  named  Lafosse,  whose  shop  was  in  Broad 
Street.  On  arriving  at  manhood  he  went  to  Paris, 
where  he  worked  as  a  journeyman,  saving  money 
enough  to  make  an  excursion  as  far  south  as  Moutpellier, 
to  view  the  family  estate,  now  in  the  possession  of 
strangers  and  irrecoverably  lost,  since  it  could  only  be 
redeemed,  if  at  all,  by  apostasy.  The  jeweller  eventu- 
ally returned  to  London,  married  a  Miss  Garnault, — des- 
cended like  himself  from  a  Protestant  refugee, — and 
began  business  on  his  own  account.  He  seems  to  have 
enjoyed  a  moderate  degree  of  prosperity,  living  care- 
fully and  frugally,  bringing  up  his  family  virtuously 
and  religiously,  and  giving  them  as  good  an  education  as 
his  comparatively  slender  means  would  admit,  until 
the  death  ot  a  rich  relative  of  his  wife,  a  Mr.  de  la 


CHAP.  xvm.     THE  BOILEAVX  AND  CRESPIGXYS.  329 

Haize, — who  left  considerable  legacies  to  each  member 
of  the  family, — enabled  Mr.  Romilly  to  article  his  son 
Samuel  to  a  clerk  in  chancery,  and  to  enter  upon  the 
profession  in  which  he  acquired  so  much  distinc- 
tion. It  is  unnecessary  to  describe  his  career,  which 
has  been  so  simply  and  beautifully  related  by  himself, 
or  to  trace  the  further  history  of  the  family,  the  head 
of  which  now  sits  in  the  House  of  Lords,  under  the 
title  of  Baron  Romilly. 

The  baronetage,  as  well  as  the  peerage,  includes 
many  descendants  of  the  Huguenots.  Jacques  Boileau 
was  Lord  of  Castlenau  and  St.  Croix,  near  Nismes,  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  which  the  persecution  long  raged 
so  furiously.  He  was  the  father  of  a  family  of  twenty- 
two  children,  and  could  not  readily  leave  France  at  the 
Revocation;  but,  being  known  as  a  Protestant,  and 
refusing  to  be  converted,  he  was  arrested  and  placed 
under  restraint,  in  which  condition  he  died.  His  son 
Charles  fled,  first  into  Holland,  and  afterwards  into 
England,  where  he  entered  the  army,  obtained  the  rank 
of  captain,  and  commanded  a  corps  of  French  gentle- 
men under  Marlborough  at  the  battle  of  Blenheim. 
He  afterwards  settled  as  a  wine-merchant  at  Dublin, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son.  The  family  prospered ; 
and  the  great-grandson  of  Marlborough's  captain  was 
promoted  to  a  baronetcy, — the  present  wearer  of  the 
title  being  Sir  John  Boileau. 

The  Crespignys  also  belonged  to  a  noble  family  in 
Lower  Normandy.  Claude  Champion,  Lord  of  Cres- 
pigny, was  an  officer  in  the  French  army ;  but  at  the 
Revocation  he  fled  into  England,  accompanied  by  his 
wife,  the  Comtesse  de  Vierville,  and  a  family  of  eight 
children, — two  of  whom  were  carried  on  board  the 
ship  in  which  they  sailed,  in  baskets.  De  Crespigny 
entered  the  British  army,  and  served  as  colonel  under 
Marlborough.  The  present  head  of  the  family  is  Sir 
C.  W.  Champion  Crespigny,  Bart. 

Elias  Bouhe'rau,  M.D.,  an  eminent  physician  in 
Rochelle,  being  debarred  the  practice  of  his  profession 


330  HUGUENOT  BAROXETS.          CHAP.  xvui. 

by  the  edict  of  Louis  XIV..  fled  into  England  with  his 
wife  and  children,  and  settled  in  Ireland,  where  his 
descendants  rose  to  fame  and  honour ;  the  present  re- 
presentative of  the  family  being  Sir  E.  R.  Borough, 
Bart. 

Anthony  Vinchon  de  Bacquencourt,  a  man  eminent 
for  his  learning,  belonged  to  Rouen,  of  the  parliament 
of  which  his  father  was  President.  He  was  originally 
a  Roman  Catholic,  but  being  incensed  at  the  pretended 
miracles  wrought  at  the  tomb  of  the  Abbe'  Paris,  he 
embraced  Protestantism,  and  fled  from  France.  He 
settled  in  Dublin  under  the  name  of  Des  Voeux  (the 
family  surname),  and  became  minister  of  the  French 
church  there.  He  afterwards  joined  the  Rev.  John 
Peter  Droz,  another  French  refugee,  in  starting  the 
first  literary  journal  that  ever  appeared  in  Ireland. 
The  present  representative  of  the  famity  is  Sir  C. 
Des  Voeux,  Bart. 

Among  other  baronets  descended  from  French 
refugees,  may  be  mentioned  Sir  John  Lambert,  de- 
scended from  John  Lambert  of  the  Isle  of  Rhe';  Sir  J. 
D.  Legard,  descended  from  John  Legard,  of  ancient 
Norman  lineage ;  Sir  A.  J.  de  Hochepied  Larpent,  de- 
scended from  John  de  Larpent  of  Caen ;  and  Sir  G.  S. 
Brooke  Pechell,  descended  from  the  Pechells  of  Montau- 
ban  in  Languedoc.  One  of  the  members  of  the  last- 
mentioned  family  having  embraced  Roman  Catholicism, 
his  descendants  still  hold  the  family  estate  in  France. 

Many  of  the  refugees  and  their  descendants  have 
also  sat  in  Parliament,  and  done  good  service  there. 
Probably  the  first  Huguenot  member  of  the  House 
of  Commons  was  Phillip  Papiilon,  who  sat  for  the 
city  of  London  in  1695.  The  Papillons  had  suffered 
much  for  their  religion  in  France,  one  of  them  having 
lain  in  gaol  at  Avranches  for  three  years.  Various 
members  of  the  family  have  since  represented  Dover, 
Romney,  and  Colchester. 

Of  past  members  of  Parliament,  the  Pechells  have 
sat  for  Essex ;  the  Fonneraus  for  Aldborough ;  the 


CHAT.  xvm.     HUGUENOTS  IX  PARLIAMENT.  331 

Durants  for  St.  Ives  and  Evesham ;  the  Devagnes  for 
Barnstaple ;  the  Maugers  for  Poole ;  the  La  Roches  for 
Bodmin ;  and  the  Amyands  for  Tregony,  Bodmin,  and 
Camelford.  The  last  member  of  the  Amyand  family 
was  a  baronet,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Cornewall  on 
marrying  Catherine,  the  heiress  of  Velters  Cornewall, 
Esq.,  of  Moccas  Court,  Herefordshire;  and  his  only 
daughter  having  married  Sir  Thomas  Frankland  Lewis, 
became  the  mother  of  the  late  Sir  George  Comewall 
Lewis,  Bart. 

Many  descendants  of  the  Huguenots  who  settled 
in  Ireland,  also  represented  constituencies  in  the  Irish 
Parliament.  Thus,  the  La  Touches  sat  for  Carlow  ; 
the  Chaigneaus  for  Gowran ;  and  the  Right  Hon. 
William  Saurin,  who  filled  the  office  of  Irish  Attorney- 
General  for  fourteen  years,  may  be  said  to  have  repre- 
sented all  Ireland.  He  was  a  man  of  great  ability 
and  distinguished  patriotism ;  and  but  for  his  lack  of 
ambition,  would  have  been  made  a  judge  and  a  peer, 
both  of  which  dignities  he  refused.  Colonel  Barre', 
who  belonged  to  the  refugee  family  of  that  name  settled 
in  Ireland,  is  best  known  by  his  parliamentary  career 
in  England.  He  was  celebrated  as  an  orator  and  a 
patriot,  resisting  to  the  utmost  the  passing  of  the 
American  Stamp  Act,  which  severed  the  connection 
between  England  and  her  American  colonies.  In  1776 
he  held  the  office  of  Vice- Treasurer  of  Ireland,  and 
afterwards  that  ef  Paymaster  to  the  Forces  for 
England. 

Among  more  recent  members  of  Parliament  may  be 
mentioned  the  names  of  Dupre',  Gaven,  Hugessen,  Jer- 
voise,  Labouchere,  Layard,  Lefevre,  Lefroy,  Paget  (of 
the  Leicestershire  family,  formerly  member  for  Notting- 
ham), Pusey,  Tomline,  Rebow,  and  Vandeleur.  Mr. 
Chevalier  Cobbold  is  descended  by  the  female  side 
from  Samuel  le  Chevalier,  minister  of  the  French 
church  in  London  in  1591  ;  one  of  whose  descendants 
introduced  the  well-known  Chevalier  barley.  Mr.  Du 
Cane  is  descended  from  the  same  family  to  which  the 


332  EMINENT  HUGUENOT  DIVINES.    CHAP.  xvni. 

great  admiral  belonged.  The  first  Du  Cane  or  Da 
Quesne  who  fled  into  England  for  refuge,  settled  at 
Canterbury,  and  afterwards  in  London.  The  head 
of  this  family  was  an  Alderman  of  the  City  in  1666, 
and  in  the  next  century  his  grandson  Richard  sat  for 
Colchester  in  Parliament;  the  present  representative 
of  the  Du  Canes  being  the  member  for  North  Essex. 

Of  the  descendants  of  refugees  who  were  distin- 
guished as  divines,  may  be  mentioned  the  Majendies, 
one  of  whom — John  James,  son  of  the  pastor  of  the 
French  church  at  Exeter — was  Prebendary  of  Sarum, 
and  a  well-known  author;  and  another,  son  of  the 
Prebendary,  became  Bishop  of  Chester,  and  afterwards 
of  Bangor.  The  Saurins  also  rose  to  eminence  in  the 
Church, — Louis  Saurin,  minister  of  the  French  church 
in  the  Savoy,  having  been  raised  to  the  Deanery  of  St. 
Patrick's,  Ardagh ;  whilst  his  son  afterwards  became 
Vicar  of  Belfast,  and  his  grandson  Bishop  of  Dromore. 
Roger  Du  Quesne,  grandson  of  the  Marquis  Du  Quesne, 
was  Vicar  of  East  Tuddenhani  in  Norfolk,  and  a  Pre- 
bendary of  Ely. 

One  of  the  most  eminent  scholars  of  Huguenot  origin 
was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jortin,  Archdeacon  of  London.  He 
was  the  son  of  Rene'  Jortin,  a  refugee  from  Brittany, 
who  served  as  secretary  to  three  British  admirals  suc- 
cessively, and  went  down  with  Sir  Cloudesley  Shovel 
in  the  ship  in  which  he  was  wrecked  off  the  Scilly 
Isles  in  1707.  The  son  of  Rene*  was  entered  a  pupil 
at  the  Charter-House,  and  gave  early  indications  of 
ability,  which  were  justified  by  the  distinction  which 
he  shortly  after  achieved  at  Cambridge.  On  the  re- 
commendation of  Dr.  Thirlby,  young  Jortin  furnished 
Pope  with  translations  from  the  commentary  of  Eusta- 
thius  on  Homer,  as  well  as  with  notes  for  his  transla- 
tion of  the  Iliad ;  but  though  Pope  adapted  them 
almost  verbatim,  he  made  no  acknowledgment  of  tho 
assistance  of  his  young  helper.  Shortly  after,  on  a 
fellowship  becoming  vacant  at  Cambridge  by  the  death 
•>f  William  Rosen,  the  descendant  of  another  refugee, 


CHAP.  xvni.     THE  FLEURYS  AND  MATURINS.  333 

Jortin  was  appointed  to  it.  A  few  years  later,  he  was 
appointed  to  the  vicarage  of  Swavesey,  in  Cambridge- 
shire, from  whence  he  removed  to  the  living  of  Ken- 
sington near  London.  There  he  distinguished  himself 
as  the  author  of  many  learned  works,  of  which  the 
best  known  is  his  able  and  elaborate  Life  of  Erasmus. 
He  was  eventually  made  Archdeacon  of  London,  and 
died  in  1770  at  Kensington,  where  he  was  buried. 

Another  celebrated  divine  was  the  Rev.  George 
Lewis  Fleury,  Archdeacon  of  Waterford — "  the  good 
old  archdeacon,"  as  he  was  called — widely  known  for 
his  piety,  his  charity,  and  his  goodness.  He  was 
descended  from  Louis  Fleury,  pastor  of  Tours,  who  fled 
into  England  with  his  wife  and  family  at  the  Revoca- 
tion. Several  of  the  Fleurys  are  still  clergymen  in 
Ireland. 

The  Maturins  also  have  produced  some  illustrious 
men.  The  pastor  Gabriel  Maturin,  from  whom  they 
are  descended,  lay  a  prisoner  in  the  Bastile  for  twenty- 
six  years  on  account  of  his  religion.  But  he  tena- 
ciously refused  to  be  converted,  and  he  was  at  length, 
discharged,  a  cripple  for  life, — having  lost  the  use  of 
his  limbs  during  his  confinement.  He  contrived, 
however,  to  reach  Ireland  with  some  members  of  his 
former  flock,  and  there  he  unexpectedly  found  his  wife 
and  two  sons,  of  whom  he  had  heard  nothing  during 
the  long  period  of  his  imprisonment.  His  son  Peter 
arrived  at  some  distinction  in  the  Church,  having  be- 
come Dean  of  Killala  ;  and  his  grandson  Gabriel  James 
became  Dean  of  St.  Patrick's,  Dublin.  From  him 
descended  several  clergymen  of  eminence,  one  of  them 
an  eloquent  preacher,  who  is  perhaps  more  widely 
known  as  the  author  of  two  remarkable  works — 
Melmoth  the  Wanderer,  and  the  tragedy  of  Bertram,. 

There  were  numerous  other  descendants  of  the  refu- 
gees, clergymen  and  others,  besides  those  already 
named,  who  distinguished  themselves  by  their  literary 
productions.  Louis  Dutens,  who  held  the  living  of 
Elsdon  in  Northumberland,  produced  a  successful 


334  DIVINES  AND  LAWYERS.         CHAP.  xvin. 

tragedy,  The  Return  of  Ulysses,  when  only  about 
eighteen  years  of  age.  In  his  later  years,  he  was  the 
author  of  numerous  works  of  a  more  solid  character,  of 
which  one  of  the  best  known  is  his  Researches  on  the 
Origin  of  Discoveries  attributed  to  the  Moderns — a 
work  full  of  learning  and  labour.  He  also  wrote  an 
Appeal  to  Good  Sense,  being  a  defence  of  Christianity 
against  Voltaire  and  the  Encyclopaedists,  besides 
numerous  other  works. 

The  Rev.  William  Romaine,  Rector  of  St.  Ann's, 
Blaokfriars,  was  the  son  of  a  French  refugee  who  had 
settled  at  Hartlepool  as  a  merchant  and  corn-dealer. 
Mr.  Romaine  was  one  of  the  most  popular  of  London 
clergymen,  and  his  Life,  Walk,  and  Triumph  of  Faith 
is  to  this  day  a  well-known  and  popular  book  among 
religious  readers.  Romaine  has  been  compared  to  "  a 
diamond — rough  often,  but  very  pointed ;  and  the  more 
he  was  broken  by  years,  the  more  he  appeared  to 
shine."  Much  of  his  life  was  passed  in  polemical 
controversy,  and  in  maintaining  the  Calvinistic  views 
which  he  so  strongly  held.  He  was  a  most  diligent 
improver  of  time ;  and  besides  being  exemplary  and 
indefatigable  in  performing  the  duties  of  his  office,  he 
left  behind  him  a  large  number  of  able  works,  which 
were  collected  and  published  in  1796  in  eight  octavo 
volumes. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  distinction  achieved 
by  Saurin  and  Romilly  at  the  Irish  and  English  bar. 
But  they  did  not  stand  alone.  Of  the  numerous  law- 
yers descended  from  the  refugees,  several  have  achieved 
no  less  eminence  as  judges  than  as  pleaders.  Of  these, 
Baron  Mazeres,  appointed  Curzitor  Baron  of  the  Ex- 
chequer in  1773,  was  one  of  the  most  illustrious.  He  was 
not  less  distinguished  as  a  man  of  science  and  an  anti- 
quarian, than  as  a  lawyer.  Justice  Le  Blanc,  Sir  John 
Bayley,  and  Sir  John  Bosanquet,  were  also  of  French 
extraction,  the  latter  being  descended  from  Pierre 
Bosanquet,  of  Lunel  in  Languedoc.  Chief  Justice 
Lefroy  and  Justice  Perrin,  of  the  Irish  bench,  were  in 


CHAP   xvni.  HUGUENOT  LITERATI.  335 

like  manner  descended  from  Huguenot  families  long 
settled  in  Ireland. 

A  long  list  might  be  given,  in  addition  to  those 
already  mentioned,  of  persons  illustrious  in  literature, 
science,  and  the  arts,  who  sprang  from  the  same  stock ; 
but  we  must  be  content  with  mentioning  only  a  few. 
Peter  Anthony  Motteaux  was  not  less  distinguished  for 
his  enterprise  as  an  East  India  merchant,  than  for  his 
ability  as  a  writer;  and  Sir  John  Charden,  the  traveller 
and  author,  afterwards  jeweller  to  the  court,  was  es- 
teemed in  his  time  as  a  man  of  great  parts  and  of 
noble  character.  Garrick,  the  great  English  actor,  was 
of  Huguenot  origin,  his  real  name  being  Garrigue. 
The  French  D'Aubigne's  have  given  us  several  eminent 
men,  bearing  the  name  of  Daubeny,  celebrated  in 
natural  history.  Among  other  men  of  science,  we  note 
the  names  of  Rigaud,  Sivilian  professor  of  astronomy 
at  Oxford,  and  Roget,  the  physiologist,  author  of  one 
of  the  Bridgewater  treatises.  The  Martineaus,  so  well 
known  in  English  literature,  are  descended  from 
Gaston  Martineau,  a  surgeon  of  Dieppe,  who  settled  at 
Norwich  in  1685  ;  and  the  Barbaulds  are  sprung  from 
a  minister  of  the  French  church  of  La  Patente  in 
London.  Some  of  our  best  novelists  have  also  been  of 
French  extraction.  Captain  Marryatfc  and  Captain 
Chamier,  whose  nautical  tales  have  charmed  so  many 
readers,  were  both  descended  from  Huguenots,  as  was 
also  Tom  D'Urfey,  the  English  song- writer.  It  has  also 
been  supposed  that  the  family  of  De  Foe  (or  Vaux) 
was  of  Huguenot  origin. 

Several  men  of  considerable  distinction  in  science 
and  invention  emanated  from  the  Huguenot  settlers  in 
Spitalfields,  which  long  continued  to  be  the  great 
French  quarter  of  London.  The  French  handloom 
weavers  were  in  many  respects  a  superior  class  of 
workmen,  though  their  earnings  were  comparatively 
small  in  amount.  Their  employment  was  sedentary, 
and  entirely  of  a  domestic  character, — the  workshop 
being  almost  invariably  situated  over  the  dwelling, 


336  HUGUENOT  WORKMEN  IN  SPITALFIELDS.  CHAP.XVIII. 

and  approached  through  it.  All  the  members  of 
the  family  took  part  in  the  work,  which  was  of  such 
a  nature  as  not  to  prevent  conversation;  and  when 
several  looms  were  worked  on  the  same  floor,  this  was 
generally  of  an  intellectual  character.  One  of  the 
young  people  was  usually  appointed  to  read  to  those 
at  work — it  might  be  a  book  on  history,  or  frequently  a 
controversial  work, —  the  refugee  divines  being  among 
the  most  prolific  authors  of  their  time.  Nor  were  the 
sufferings  of  the  Huguenots  at  the  galleys  and  in  the 
prisons  throughout  France  forgotten  in  the  dwellings  of 
the  exiles,  who  often  spoke  of  them  to  their  children, 
and  earnestly  enjoined  them  to  keep  steadfast  in  the 
faith  for  which  their  fathers  had  suffered  so  much. 

The  circumstances  in  which  the  children  of  the 
Huguenot  workmen  were  thus  brought  up — their 
domestic  training,  their  religious  discipline,  and  their 
school  culture — rendered  them  for  the  most  part 
intelligent  and  docile,  while  their  industry  was  pro- 
verbial. The  exiles  indulged  in  simple  pleasures,  and 
were  especially  noted  for  their  love  of  flowers.  They 
vied  with  one  another  in  the  production  of  the  finest 
plants ;  and  wherever  they  settled,  they  usually  set 
up  a  floricultural  society  to  exhibit  their  products. 
One  of  the  first  societies  of  the  kind  in  England, 
was  that  established  by  the  exiles  in  Spitalfields ; 
and  when  a  body  of  them  went  over  to  Dublin  to 
carry  on  the  manufacture  of  poplins,  they  proceeded 
to  set  on  foot  the  celebrated  Flower  Club  which  still 
exists  in  that  city.  Others  of  them,  who  settled  in 
Manchester  and  Macclesfield,  carried  thither  the  same 
love  of  flowers  and  botany,  which  still  continues  to 
characterise  their  descendants. 

Among  the  handloom  weavers  of  Spitalfields  were 
also  to  be  found  occasional  inquirers  in  physical  science, 
as  well  as  several  distinguished  mathematicians.  They 
were  encouraged  in  these  studies  by  the  societies  which 
were  established  for  their  cultivation, — a  philosophical 
hall  having  been  founded  with  that  object  in  Crispin 


CHAP,  xviil.  THE  DOLLONDS.  337 

Street,  Spitalfields.1  Though  Simpson  and  Edwards, 
both  professors  of  mathematics  at  Woolwich,  were 
not  of  French  extraction,  they  were  both  silk-weavers 
in  Spitalfields,  and  taught  mathematics  there.  The 
Dollonds,  however,  were  of  pure  French  origin.  The 
parents  of  John  Dollond  were  Protestant  refugees  from 
Normandy, — from  whence  they  came  shortly  after  the 
Revocation.  His  father  was  a  silk- weaver,  to  which 
trade  John  was  also  brought  up.  From  an  early 
age  he  displayed  a  genius  for  construction,  and  em- 
braced every  opportunity  of  reading  and  studying 
books  on  geometry,  mathematics,  and  general  science. 
He  was,  however,  unable  to  devote  more  than  his 
spare  moments  to  such  objects ;  and  when  he  reached 
manhood  and  married,  his  increasing  family  com- 
pelled him  to  work  at  his  loom  more  assiduously 
than  ever.  Nevertheless,  he  went  on  accumulating 
information,  not  only  on  mathematics,  but  on  anatomy, 
natural  history,  astronomy,  and  optics,  reading  also 
extensively  in  divinity  and  ecclesiastical  history.  In 
order  to  read  the  New  Testament  in  the  original,  he 
even  learnt  Greek ;  and  to  extend  his  knowledge  of 
foreign  literature,  he  also  learnt  Latin,  French,  German, 
and  Italian. 

John  Dollond  apprenticed  his  eldest  son  Peter  to 
an  optician ;  and  on  the  expiry  of  the  young  man's 
apprenticeship,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  he  opened  a  shop 
in  Vine  Street,  Spitalfields.  The  business  proved  so 
prosperous  that,  shortly  after,  the  elder  Dollond  was 
induced  to  leave  his  loom  at  the  age  of  forty-six,  and 
enter  into  partnership  with  his  son  as  an  optician. 
He  was  now  enabled  to  devote  himself  wholly  to  his 
favourite  studies,  and  to  pursue  as  a  business  the  art 
which  before  had  occupied  him  chiefly  as  an  amuse- 
ment. 

One  of  the  first  subjects  to  which  Dollond  devoted 
himself  was  the  improvement  of  the  refracting  tele- 

'  The  biiildintr,  which  still  exists,  is  now  used  as  an  earthenware-store. 

22 


338  HUGUENOT  INVENTIONS.         CHAP.  xvin. 

scope.  He  entered  on  a  series  of  experiments  which 
extended  over  several  years,  at  first  without  results ; 
but  at  length,  after  "  a  resolute  perseverance  "  (to  use 
his  own  words),  he  made  the  decisive  experiment  which 
showed  the  error  of  Newton's  conclusion  as  to  the 
supposed  law  of  refraction.  The  papers  embodying 
Dollond's  long  succession  of  experiments  were  printed 
iu  the  Transactions  of  the  Philosophical  Society,  and 
for  the  last  of  them  he  was  awarded  the  Royal  Society's 
Copley  medal.  The  result  of  the  discovery  was  an 
immediate  great  improvement  in  the  powers  and 
accuracy  of  the  telescope  and  microscope,  of  which  the 
Dollond  firm  reaped  the  result  in  a  large  increase  of 
business,  which  still  continues  in  the  family. 

Many  other  descendants  of  the  Huguenots  distin- 
guished themselves  by  their  inventions  in  connection 
wiith  chronometry,  paper-making  (Fourdrinier  for 
example),  turning  and  tool-making,  and  spinning  and 
carding  machinery.  Of  the  latter  class,  it  may  suffice 
to  mention  the  name  of  Louis  Paul,  the  original  in- 
ventor of  spinning  by  rollers,  subsequently  revised  and 
successfully  applied  by  Sir  Richard  Arkwright, — an 
invention  which  has  exercised  an  extraordinary  in- 
fluence on  the  manufacturing  system  of  England  and 
the  world  at  large. 

This  invention,  together  with  that  of  the  steam- 
engine  and  the  power-loom,  gave  almost  the  death- 
blow to  hand -loom  weaving.  From  that  time,  the 
manufactures  of  Spitalfields,  Dublin,  and  the  other 
places  where  the  descendants  of  the  refugee  workmen 
had  principally  settled,  fell  into  comparative  decay. 
Many  of  the  artizans,  following  the  current  of  trade, 
left  their  looms  in  London,  and  migrated  to  Coventry, 
Macclesfield,  Manchester,  and  other  northern  manufac- 
turing towns,  then  rising  in  importance.  The  stronger 
and  more  self-reliant  pushed  out  into  the  world ;  the 
more  quiescent  and  feeble  remained  behind.  The 
hand-loom  trade  could  not  be  revived,  and  no  amount 
of  patient  toil  and  industry  could  avert  the  distress 


CHAP,  xviii.     THE  HUGUENOT  DESCENDANTS.  339 

that  fell  upon  the  poor  silk-weavers,  which,  even  to 
this  day,  from  time  to  time  sends  up  its  wail  in  the 
eastern  parts  of  London. 

Owing  to  these  circumstances,  as  well  as  to  the 
gradual  intermingling  of  the  foreign  with  the  native 
population,  the  Erench  element  year  by  year  became 
less  marked  in  Spitalfields ;  and  in  the  course  of  a  few 
generations  the  religious  fervour  which  had  distin- 
guished the  original  Huguenot  refugees,  entirely  died 
out  in  their  descendants.  They  might  continue  to 
frequent  the  French  churches,  but  it  was  in  con- 
stantly decreasing  numbers.  The  foreign  congregations 
which  had  been  so  flourishing  about  the  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  towards  the  end  of  it  became 
the  mere  vestiges  of  what  they  had  been,  and  at  length 
many  of  them  were  closed  altogether,  or  turned  over  to 
other  denominations. 

Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  in  his  Autobiography,  gives  a 
touching  account  of  the  domestic  life  of  his  father's 
family, — their  simple  pleasures,  their  reading,  society, 
and  conversation.  Nearly  all  the  visitors  and  friends 
of  the  family  were  of  French  descent.  They  associated 
together,  worshipped  together,  and  intermarried  with 
each  other.  The  children  went  to  a  school  kept  by  a, 
refugee.  On  Sunday  mornings,  French  was  exclu- 
sively spoken  in  the  family  circle;  and  at  least 
once  in  the  day  the  family  pew  in  the  French 
Artillery  Church  was  regularly  filled.  "  My  fathert" 
says  Sir  Samuel,  "  had  a  pew  in  one  of  the  French 
chapels,  which  had  been  established  when  the  Protes- 
tant refugees  first  emigrated  into  England,  and  he 
required  us  to  attend  alternately  there  and  at  the 
parish  church  [this  was  about  the  year  1730].  It  was 
a  kind  of  homage  which  he  paid  to  the  faith  of  his 
ancestors,  and  it  was  a  means  of  rendering  the  French 
language  familiar  to  us ;  but  nothing  was  ever  worse 
calculated  to  inspire  the  mind  of  a  child  with  respect 
for  religion  than  such  a  kind  of  religious  worship, 
of  the  descendants  of  the  refugees  were  born  and 


340  CHURCH  IN  THE  DESERT.        CHAP.  xvin. 

bred  in  England,  and  desired  nothing  less  than  to 
preserve  the  memory  of  their  origin ;  and  the  chapels 
were  therefore  ill-attended.  A  large  uncouth  room, 
the  avenues  to  which  were  crowded  courts  and  dirty 
alleys,  and  which,  when  you  entered  it,  presented  to 
the  view  only  irregular  unpainted  pews  and  dusty  un- 
plastered  walls  ;  a  congregation  consisting  principally 
of  some  strange-looking  old  women,  scattered  here 
and  there,  two  or  three  in  a  pew ;  and  a  clergyman 
reading  the  service  and  preaching  in  a  monotonous 
tone  of  voice,  and  in  a  language  not  familiar  to  me, 
was  not  likely  either  to  impress  my  mind  with  much 
religious  awe,  or  to  attract  my  attention  to  the  doc- 
trines which  were  delivered.  In  truth,  I  did  not  once 
attempt  to  attend  to  them  ;  my  mind  was  wandering 
to  other  subjects,  and  disporting  itself  in  much  gayer 
scenes  than  those  before  me,  and  little  of  religion  was 
mixed  in  my  reveries."  1 

Very  few  of  the  refugees  returned  to  France.  They 
long  continued  to  sigh  after  the  land  of  their  fathers, 
hoping  that  the  religious  persecutions  abroad  would 
abate,  so  that  they  might  return  to  live  and  die  there. 
But  the  persecutions  did  not  abate.  They  flared  up 
again  from  time  to  time  with  increased  fury,  even 
after  religion  had  become  almost  prostrate  throughout 
France.  Protestantism,  though  proscribed,  was  not, 
however,  dead;  and  meetings  of  the  Huguenots  con- 
tinued to  be  held  in  "  the  Desert," — by  night,  in  caves, 
in  the  woods,  among  the  hills,  by  the  sea-shore,  where 
a  body  of  faithful  pastors  ministered  to  them  at  the 
hourly  peril  of  their  lives.  The  "Church  in  the 
Desert "  was  even  regularly  organised,  had  its  stated 
elders,  deacons,  and  ministers,  and  appointed  circuit 
meetings.  Very  rarely  were  their  secrets  betrayed ; 
yet  they  could  not  always  escape  the  vigilance  of  the 
Jesuits,  who  continued  to  track  them  with  the  aid  of 
the  soldiery  and  police,  and  succeeded  in  sending  fresh 

1  IAfe  of  Sir  Samuel  Ramilly,  i.,  16, 


CHAP,  xviii.  LONG  CONTINUED  PERSECUTIONS.  341 

victims  to  the  galleys  so  long  as  they  retained  power 
in  France. 

Down  even  to  the  middle  of  last  century  the  per- 
secution of  the  Protestants  continued  unabated.  Thus, 
at  Grenoble,  in  the  years  1745  and  1746,  more  than 
three  hundred  persons  were  condemned  to  death,  the 
galleys,  or  perpetual  imprisonment,  because  of  their 
religion.  Twenty-nine  nobles  were  condemned  to  be 
deprived  of  their  nobility;  fourteen  persons  were 
banished ;  four  were  condemned  to  be  flogged  by  the 
common  hangman ;  six  women  were  sentenced  to  have 
their  heads  shaved  by  the  same  functionary,  and  to  be 
imprisoned,  some  for  different  periods,  others  for  life ; 
two  men  were  condemned  to  be  placed  in  the  pillory ; 
thirty-four  were  sent  to  the  galleys  for  from  three  to 
five  years,  six  for  ten  years,  and  a  hundred  and  sixteen, 
amongst  whom  were  forty-six  gentlemen  and  two 
chevaliers  of  the  order  of  Saint  Louis,  were  sent  to  the 
galleys  for  life ;  and  four  were  sentenced  to  death.1 
The  only  crime  of  which  these  persons  had  been  guilty 
was,  that  they  had  been  detected  attending  Protestant 
worship  contrary  to  law. 

The  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  1750,  which  gave 
a  brief  repose  to  Europe,  brought  no  peace  to  the 
Huguenots.  There  was  even  an  increase  in  their  perse- 
cutions for  a  time ;  for  a  large  body  of  soldiery  had 
been  thereby  set  at  liberty,  who  were  employed  to 
hunt  down  the  Protestants  at  their  meetings  in  "the 
Desert."  Between  the  years  1750  and  1762,  fifty-eight 
persons  were  condemned  to  the  galleys,  many  of  them 
for  life.  In  the  latter  year  more  than  six  hundred 
fugitives  fled  across  the  frontier  into  Switzerland,  and 
passed  down  the  Rhine,  through  Holland  and  Eng- 
land, into  Ireland,  where  they  settled.  It  is  a  some- 
what remarkable  circumstance,  that,  according  to  M. 
Coquerel,  one  of  the  last  women  imprisoned  for  her 
religion  was  condemned  by  an  Irish  Roman  Catholic, 

1  ASTOINE  COUBT — Memoires  Hlstoriques,  pp.  94  ct  seq 


342  THE  PERSECUTIONS  SUSPENDED.  CHAP,  xviii. 

then  in  the  service  of  France : — "  Marguerite  Robert, 
wife  of  Joseph  Vincent,  of  Valeirarques,  in  the  diocese 
of  Uzes,  was  arrested  in  her  house,  because  of  having 
been  married  by  a  Protestant  pastor ;  and  condemned 
in  1759,  by  Honseigneur  de  ThomoTid  .  .  .  ce  Lord 
Irlandois"  x 

The  punishment  of  the  galleys  was  also  drawing 
to  an  end.  The  mutterings  of  the  coming  revolution 
were  already  beginning  to  be  heard.  The  long  uncon- 
trolled rule  of  the  Jesuits  had  paved  the  way  for 
Voltaire  and  Rousseau,  whose  influence  was  about  to 
penetrate  French  society.  In  1764,  the  Jesuits  were 
suppressed  by  Parliament,  and  the  persecutions  in  a 
great  measure  ceased.  In  1769,  Alexander  Ghambon, 
of  Praules  in  the  Viverais,  the  last  galley-slave  for  the 
faith,  was  discharged  from  the  convict-prison  at  Toulon, 
through  the  intervention  of  the  Prince  of  Beauvau. 
Chambon  was  then  eighty  years  old,  and  had  passed 
twenty-seven  years  at  the  galleys,  to  which  he  had  been 
condemned  for  attending  a  religious  meeting. 

The  last  apprehension  of  a  Protestant  minister  was 
that  of  M.  Broca,  of  La  Brie,  as  late  as  the  year  1773 ; 
but  the  spirit  of  persecution  had  so  much  abated  that 
he  was  only  warned  and  required  to  change  his 
residence.  It  began  to  be  felt  that,  whilst  materialism 
and  atheism  were  being  openly  taught  even  by  priests 
and  dignitaries  of  the  French  Church — by  the  Abbe'  de 
Prades  and  others — the  persecution  of  the  Protestants 
could  no  longer  be  consistently  enforced;  and  they 
accordingly  thenceforwards  enjoyed  a  degree  of  liberty 
in  the  exercise  of  their  worship,  such  as  they  had  not 
experienced  since  the  death  of  Mazarin. 

But  this  liberty  came  too  late  to  be  of  any  use  to 
the  exiled  Huguenots  and  their  descendants  settled  in 
England,  who  had  long  since  given  up  all  hope  of  re- 
turning to  the  land  of  their  fathers.  The  revolutionary 
period  shortly  followed,  after  which  came  the  wars  of 

1  CHABLES  COQUEBEL — Uistoire  des  Eglisesdu  Desert,  ii.,  p.  -1-8. 


CHAP,  xviir.       TUB  HUGUENOTS  EFFACED.  343 

the  republic,  and  the  revival  of  the  old  feud  between 
France  and  England.  Many  of  the  descendants  of  the 
exiles,  no  longer  desiring  to  remember  their  origin, 
adopted  English  names,  and  ceased  to  be  French. 
Since  that  time  the  fusion  of  the  exiles  with  the 
English  people  has  become  complete,  even  in  Spital- 
fields.  There  are  whole  quarters  of  streets  there,  in 
which  the  glazed  garrets  indicate  the  dwellings  of  the 
French  silk  weavers.  There  are  still  some  of  their  old 
mulberry-trees  to  be  seen  in  the  gardens  near  Spital 
Square.  Many  pure  French  names  may  still  be  ob- 
served over  the  shop-doors  in  that  quarter  of  London ; 
and  several  descendants  of  the  French  manufacturers 
still  continue  to  carry  on  the  business  of  silk- weaving. 
Even  the  pot-au-feu  is  still  known  in  Spitalfields, 
though  the  poor  people  who  use  it  know  not  of  its 
origin.  And  although  there  are  many  descendants 
of  the  French  operatives  still  resident  in  the  east  of 
London,  probably  by  far  the  largest  proportion  of  them 
have  long  since  migrated  to  the  more  prosperous  manu- 
facturing districts  of  the  north. 

Throughout  the  country  there  was  the  same  efface- 
ment  of  the  traces  of  foreign  origin  among  the  descend- 
ants of  the  exiles.  Everywhere  they  gradually  ceased 
to  be  French.1  The  foreign  manners,  customs,  and  lan- 
guage, probably  held  out  the  longest  at  Portarlington, 
in  Ireland,  where  the  old  French  of  Louis  Quartorze 
long  continued  to  be  spoken  in  society.  The  old  French 
service  was  read  in  the  Huguenot  church  down  to  the 
year!817,when  it  was  finally  supplanted  by  the  English. 

Thus,  the  refugees  of  all  classes  at  length  ceased  to 
exist  as  a  distinctive  body  among  the  people  who  had 
given  them  refuge.  They  were  eventually  absorbed  into, 
and  became  an  integral  part  of  the  British  nation. 

1  The       French       mercantile  of  Bosanquet,   Puget,  etc.    The 

houses  in  England  and  Ireland,  house  of  Puget  and  Co.  in  St. 

who   did    business    in  London,  Paul's      Churchyard,      recently 

long   continued    to    have    their  wound  up,  kept  all  their  books 

special  London  bankers,  amongst  in  French  down  to  the  beginning 

whom  may  be  mentioned  those  of  the  present  century. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

CONCLUSION. — THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION. 

WHILE  such  were  the  results  of  the  settlement  of  the 
Protestant  refugees  in  England,  let  us  briefly  glance  at 
the  effect  of  their  banishment  upon  the  countries  which 
drove  them  forth. 

The  persecutions  in  Flanders  and  France  succeeded, 
after  a  sort.  Philip  II.  crushed  Protestantism  in 
Flanders,  as  had  been  done  in  Spain,  to  the  temporary 
ruin  of  the  one  country  and  the  debasement  of  the 
other.  Flanders  eventually  became  lost  to  the  Spanish 
crown,  though  it  has  since  entered  upon  a  new  and 
prosperous  career  under  the  constitutional  government 
of  Belgium ;  but  Spain  sank  until  she  reached  the  very 
lowest  rank  among  the  nations  of  Europe.  The  In- 
quisition flourished,  but  the  life  of  the  nation  decayed. 
Spain  lost  her  commerce,  her  colonies,  her  credit,  her 
intellect,  her  character.  She  became  a  country  of 
emeutes,  revolutions,  pronunciamentos,  repudiations, 
and  intrigues.  We  have  only  to  look  at  Spain  now. 
If  it  be  true  that  in  the  long  run  the  .collective 
character  of  a  natien  is  fairly  represented  by  its 
government  and  its  rulers,  the  character  of  Spain 
must  have  fallen  very  low  indeed. l 


1  Will  Spain  establish  consti-  he  observed  in  a  recent  speech, 

tutional  government,   and    thus  "  that  our  people  are  not  instruc- 

vindicate  her  recent  revolution  ?  ted  ;   and    it  is  true.     Yet,  for 

It    is    doubtful.      Why?      Let  fifteen    centuries    the    Catholic 

Castelar,    her    greatest     orator,  Church  has  had  the  instructing 

supply  the  answer.     "  It  is  said,"  of  them.     There  is  not  a  single 


CHAP.  xix.    EFFECTS  OF  DESPOTISM  IN  FRANCE.        345 

And  how  fared  it  with  France  after  the  banishment 
of  her  Huguenots  ?  So  far  as  regarded  the  suppression 
of  Protestantism,  Louis  XIV.  may  also  be  said  to  have 
succeeded.  For  more  than  a  century,  that  form  of 
religion  visibly  ceased  to  exist  in  France.  The  Protes- 
tants had  neither  rights  nor  privileges,  nor  any  vestige 
of  liberty.  They  were  placed  entirely  beyond  the 
pale  of  the  law.  Such  of  them  as  would  not  be  dra- 
gooned into  conformity  to  the  Roman  Catholic  religion, 
were  cast  into  prison  or  sent  to  the  galleys.  If  the 
Protestants  were  not  stamped  wholly  out  of  existence, 
they  were  at  least  stamped  out  of  sight ;  and  if  they 
continued  to  worship,  it  was  in  secret  only — in  caves, 
among  the  hills,  or  in  "the  Desert."  Indeed,  no 
measure  of  suppression  could  have  been  more  complete. 
But  see  with  what  results. 

One  thing  especially  strikes  the  intelligent  reader  of 
French  history  subsequent  to  the  Act  of  Revocation, — 
and  that  is,,  the  almost  total  disappearance  of  great 
Frenchmen.  After  that  date,  we  become  conscious  of 
a  dull,  dead  level  of  subserviency  and  conformity  to 
the  despotic  will  of  the  King.  Louis  trampled  under 
foot  individuality,  strength,  and  genius;  there  remained 
only  mediocrity,  feebleness,  and  flunkeyism.  This 
feature  of  the  time  has  been  noted  by  writers  so  various 
as  De  Felice,  Merivale,  Michelet,  and  Buckle — the  last 
of  whom  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  Louis  XIV.  "  sur- 
vived the  entire  intellect  of  the  French  nation." 

progressive  principle  but  has  given  rise  to  that  apathy 
been  cursed  by  the  Catholic  which,  in  spite  of  our  character, 
Church.  Not  a  constitution  has  is  felt  respecting  us  through- 
been  born,  not  a  single  progress  out  Europe.  Oh,  there  is  no- 
made,  not  a  solitary  reform  thing  more  abominable  than  that 
effected,  which  has  not  been  Spanish  empire  which  extends 
under  the  terrible  anathema  itself  like  a  winding-sheet  all 
of  the  Church.  We  are  a  great  over  the  planet ! "  Though  the 
charnel  -  house,  which  extends  government  of  Spain  may  for 
from  the  Pyrenees  to  the  sea  of  a  time  be  changed,  while  the 
Cadiz,  and  we  have  been  sacri-  power  of  the  priests  remains  as 
need  on  the  altar  of  Catholicism.  it  is,  there  is  comparatively  little 
Our  religious  intolerance  has  hope  for  Spain. 


546        DECAY  OF  GREAT  MEN  IN  FRANCE.    CHAP.  xix. 

The  Protestant  universities  of  Saumur,  Montauban, 
Nismes,  and  Sedan  were  suppressed,  and  their  professors 
departed  into  other  lands.  All  Protestant  schools 
were  closed,  and  the  whole  educational  organization 
of  the  nation  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits. 
War  was  declared  against  Books  forbidden  by  the 
Church  of  Rome.  Domiciliary  visits  were  paid  by  the 
district  commanders  to  eveiy  person  suspected  of  pos- 
sessing them ;  and  all  devotional  books  of  sermons  and 
hymns,  as  well  as  Bibles  and  Testaments,  that  could 
be  found,  were  ruthlessly  burnt. 

There  was  an  end  for  a  time  of  political  and  religious 
liberty  in  France.  Freedom  of  thought  and  freedom 
of  worship  were  alike  crushed ;  and  the  new  epoch  be- 
gan,— of  mental  stagnation,  political  depravity,  religious 
hypocrisy,  and  moral  decay.  With  the  great  men  of 
the  first  half  of  Louis  XIV.'s  reign,  the  intellectual 
greatness  of  France  disappeared  for  nearly  a  century. 
The  Act  of  Revocation  of  1685  cut  the  history  of  his 
reign  in  two :  everything  before,  nothing  after.  There 
was  no  great  statesman  after  Colbert.  At  his  death  in 
1683,  the  policy  which  he  had  so  laboriously  initiated 
was  summarily  overthrown.  The  military  and  naval 
genius  of  France  seemed  alike  paralysed.  The  great 
victories  of  Conde  and  Turenne  on  land,  and  of 
Duquesne  at  sea,  preceded  the  Revocation.  After  that, 
Louis'  army  was  employed  for  years  in  hunting  and 
dragonnading  the  Huguenots,  which  completely  demo- 
ralised them ;  so  that  his  next  campaign,  that  of  1688, 
began  in  disaster  and  ended  in  disgrace. 

The  same  barrenness  fell  upon  literature.  Moliere, 
the  greatest  of  French  comedians,  died  of  melancholy 
in  1674.  Racine,  the  greatest  of  French  poets  and 
dramatists,  died  in  1697;  but  his  genius  may  be  said 
to  have  culminated  with  the  production  of  Phcedre  in 
1676.  Corneille  died  in  1684,  but  his  last,  though  not 
his  greatest  work,  Surena,  was  produced  in  1676.  La 
Fontaine  published  his  last  fables  in  1679. 

With  Pascal,  a  man  as  remarkable  for  his  piety  as 


CHAP.  xix.   A  DREARY  WASTE  IX  FRENCH  HISTORY.   347 

for  his  genius,  expired,  in  1662,  the  last  free  utterance 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  France.  He  died 
protesting  to  the  last  against  the  immorality  and  des- 
potism of  the  principles  of  the  Jesuits.  It  is  true,  after 
the  Revocation,  there  remained,  of  the  great  French 
clergy,  Bo.ssuet,  Bourdaloue,  and  Fene'lon.  They  were, 
however,  the  products  of  the  first  half  of  Louis'  reign, 
and  they  were  the  last  of  their  race.  For  we  shall  find 
that  the  effect  of  the  King's  policy  was  to  strike  with 
paralysis  the  very  Church  which  he  sought  exclusively 
to  establish  and  maintain. 

After  this  period,  we  seem  to  triad  a  dreary  waste 
in  French  history.  True  loyalty  became  extinguished, 
and  even  patriotism  seems  to  have  expired.  Litera- 
ture, science,  and  the  arts  almost  died  out,  and  there 
remained  a  silence  almost  as  of  the  grave,  broken  only 
by  the  noise  of  the  revelries  at  court,  amidst  which 
there  rose  up  from  time  to  time  the  ominous  wailings  of 
the  gaunt  and  famishing  multitude. 

The  policy  of  Louis  XIV.  had  succeeded,  and  France 
was  at  length  "  con  verted  "!  Protestantism  had  been 
crushed,  and  the  Jesuits  were  triumphant.  Their 
power  over  the  bodies  and  souls  of  the  people  was  as 
absolute  as  law  could  make  it.  The  whole  education 
of  the  countiy  was  placed  in  their  hands ;  and  what 
the  character  of  the  next  generation  was  to  be,  de- 
pended in  a  great  measure  upon  them.  Not.  only  the 
churches  and  the  schools,  but  even  the  national  prisons, 
were  controlled  by  them.  They  were  the  confessors  of 
the  bastiles,  of  which  there  were  twenty  in  France, 
where  persons  could  be  incarcerated  for  life  on  the 
authority  merely  of  lettres  de  cachet,  which  were  given 
away  or  sold.  Besides  the  bastiles  and  the  galleys,1 

1  In  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.,  veritable  slaves,  and  were  occa- 
"  The  Well-Beloved,"  the  galleys  sionally  sold ;  the  price  of  a  gal- 
still  contained  many  Protestants,  ley-slave  in  The  Well-Beloved's 
besides  persons  who  had  been  reign  being  about  £120.  Vol- 
rictected  aiding  Protestants  to  taire  was  presented  with  a  gal- 
escape.  They  were  regarded  as  ley-slave  by  M.  de  Choiseul. 


348  OUTCOME  OF  THE  REVOCATION.      CHAP.  xix. 

over  which  the  Jesuits  presided,  there  were  also  the 
state  prisons,  of  which  Paris  alone  contained  about 
thirty,  besides  convents, — where  persons  might  be 
immured  without  any  sentence.  "  Surely  never,"  says 
Michelet,  "had  man's  dearest  treasure,  liberty,  been 
more  lavishly  squandered." 

The  Church  in  France  had  grown  immensely  rich 
by  the  property  of  the  Protestants  which  was  trans- 
ferred to  it,  as  well  as  by  royal  grants  and  private 
benefactions.  So  far  as  regards  money,  it  had  in  its 
hands  the  means  and  the  power  of  doing  all  that  it 
could,  to  mould  the  rnind  and  conscience  of  the  French 
nation.  The  clergy  held  in  their  hands  one-fifth  of  the 
whole  landed  property  of  the  country,  estimated  to  be 
worth  about  £160,000,000 ;  and  attached  to  these  lands 
were  the  serfs  whom  they  continued  to  hold  until  the 
Revolution. 

And  now,  let  us  see  what  was  the  outcome  of  the 
action  of  this  Church,  so  rich  and  so  powerful, — after 
enjoying  a  century  of  undisputed  authority  in  France. 
All  other  faiths  had  been  compelled  to, make  way  for 
it.  Protestantism  had  been  put  down  with  a  strong 
hand.  Free  thought  of  all  kinds  had  shrunk  for  a 
time  out  of  sight. 

What  was  the  result  of  this  exclusive  action  on 
the  mind  and  conscience  of  the  French  people  ?  The 
result  was  utter  emptiness :  to  use  the  words  of 
Carlyle,  "  emptiness  of  pocket,  of  stomach,  of  head,  and 
of  heart."  The  church  which  had  claimed  and  ob- 
tained the  sole  control  of  the  religious  education  of 
France,  saw  itself  assailed  by  its  own  offspring, — so 
desperate,  ignorant,  and  ferocious,  that  in  some  places, 
they  even  seized  the  priests  and  indecently  scourged 
them  in  front  of  their  own  altars. 

The  nation  that  would  not  have  the  Bayles,  and 
Claudes,  and  Saurins  of  a  century  before,  now  cast 
themselves  at  the  feet  of  the  Voltaires,  Kousseaus,  and 
Diderots.  Though  France  would  not  have  the  God  of 
the  Huguenot's  Bible,  she  now  accepted  the  Evangel  of 


CHAP.  xix.  DEGRADA  TION  OF  THE  R OMAN  CLER G  Y.    349 


Jean  Jacques !  A  poor  bedizened  creature,  clad  in 
tawdry,  was  led  through  the  streets  of  Paris  in  the 
character  of  the  Goddess  of  Reason  ! 

Even  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  themselves  had,  to 
a  large  extent,  ceased  to  believe  in  the  truth  of  their 
doctrines.  They  had  become  utterly  corrupted  and 
demoralised.  Their  monasteries  were  the  abodes  of 
idleness  and  self-indulgence.  Their  pulpits  were 
mute :  their  books  were  empty.  The  doctors  of  the 
Sorbonne  still  mumbled  their  accustomed  jargon, 
but  it  was  now  powerless.  Instead  of  the  great 
churchmen  of  the  past — Bossuet,  Bourdaloue,  and 
Fe'nelon — there  were  such  blind  leaders  of  the  blind 
as  the  Cardinal  de  Rohan, — the  profligate  confederate  of 
Madame  la  Motte  in  the  affair  of  the  diamond  neck- 
lace ;  the  Abb^  Sieyes, — the  constitution-monger ;  the 
Abbd  Raynal, — the  open  assailant  of  Christianity  in 
every  form ;  and  Father  Lomenie, — the  avowed  atheist.1 

The  corrupt,  self-condemned  institution,  became  a 
target  for  the  wit  of  Voltaire  and  the  encyclopedic 
philosophy  of  Diderot.  It  was  assailed  by  the  clubs 
of  Marat,  Danton,  and  Robespierre.  Then  the  unfed, 
untaught,  victims  of  centuries  of  oppression  and  mis- 
guidance rose  up  as  one  man,  and  cried,  "Away  with 
it " — Ecrasez  Vlnfame.  The  churches  were  attacked 

1  At  the  Revolution,  many  of  worthy  of  the  Republic,  because 

the  priests  openly  abjured  Chris-  you  have  sacrificed  at  the  altar  of 

tianity,  and  were  applauded  ac-  your  country  these  Gothic  bau- 

cordingly.    The  Bishop  of  Peri-  bles."    Gobel    and    the    priests 

gaux  presented  the  woman  whom  donned    the     bonnet    rovge   in 

he  had  married  to  the  Convention,  token  of  fraternisation  with  the 

saying,  "  I  have  taken  her  from  '•  Friends  of  Men."     Numbers  of 

amongst      the       sans-culottes."  priests  came  daily  and  gave  up 

His  speech  was  hailed  with  im-  to  the  Convention  their  letters  of 

mense  applause.     Gobel,  Arch-  priesthood.     Puaux  says,  "  Those 

bishop  of  Paris,  presented  him-  of  their  predecessors  who  distin- 

self  at  the  bar  of  the  Convention,  guished  themselves  in  the  cru- 

with  his  vicars  and  many  of  his  sades  against  the  Huguenots,  had 

curates,  and  desired  to  lay  at  the  slipped  their  foot  in  blood ;  but 

feet  of  the  Assembly  their  sacer-  these     fell     lower — their     foot 

dotal  garments.    "  Citizens,"  said  slipped  in  mud." 
the  President  in  reply,  ''  you  are 


360  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR.  CHAP.  xix. 

and  gutted,  as  those  of  the  Huguenots  had  been  a  cen- 
tury before.  The  church-bells  were  cast  into  cannon ; 
the  church-plate  coined  into  money;  and  at  length 
Christianity  itself  was  abolished  by  the  Convention, 
which  declared  the  Supreme  People  to  be  the  only 
Supreme  God ! 

The  Roman  Catholic  clergy,  who  had  so  long  perse- 
cuted the  Huguenots,  were  now  persecuted  in  turn  by 
their  own  flocks.  Many  of  them  were  guillotined; 
others,  chained  together  as  the  Huguenots  had  formerly 
been,  were  sent  prisoners  to  Rochelle  and  the  Isle  of 
Aix.  As  a  body  of  them  passed  through  Limoges,  on 
their  way  to  the  galleys,  they  encountered  a  procession 
of  asses  clothed  in  priests'  dresses,  a  mitred  sow  march- 
ing at  their  head.  Some  400  priests  lay  riding  in  Aix 
roads,  where  the  Huguenot  galley-slaves  had  been  be- 
fore them — "  ragged,  sordid,  hungry,  wasted  to  shadows, 
eating  their  unclean  rations  on  deck,  circularly,  in  par- 
ties of  a  dozen,  with  finger  and  thumb ;  beating  their 
scandalous  clothes  between  two  stones ;  choked  in  hor- 
rible miasmata,  under  close  hatches,  seventy  of  them 
in  a  berth  through  the  night,  so  that  the  aged  priest  is 
found  lying  dead  in  the  morning  in  an  attitude  of 
prayer." l 

Such  was  the  outcome  of  the  Act  of  Revocation  of 
Louis  the  Great — Sans-culottism  and  the  Reign  of 
Terror !  There  was  no  longer  the  massacre  and  ban- 
ishment of  Huguenots,  but  there  was  the  guillotining 
and  banishment  of  the  successors  of  the  priests  whom 
Louis  had  set  up.  There  was  one  other  point  in 
which  1793  resembled  1685.  The  fugitive  priests  fled 
in  precisely  the  same  direction  in  which  the  Huguenot 
pastors  had  done ;  and  again  the  persecuted  for  reli- 
gion's sake  made  for  the  old  free  land  of  England,  to 
join  the  descendants  of  the  Huguenots,  driven  out  ot 
France  for  altogether  different  reasons  a  century 
before. 


1  CABLTLB — French  Jtevolutiett,  ii.  338. 


CHAP.  xix.      THE  GEXEPAL  DEGRADATION.  351 

But  the  Roman  Catholic  priests  did  not  fly  alone. 
They  were  accompanied  by  the  nobles,  the  descendants 
of  those  who  had  superintended  the  dragonnades. 
Never,  since  the  flight  of  Huguenots  which  followed 
the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  had  there  been 
such  an  emigration  of  Frenchmen  from  France.  But 
there  was  this  difference  between  the  emigrations  of 
1685  and  1793 — that  whereas  in  the  former  period 
the  people  who  emigrated  consisted  of  the  industrious 
classes,  in  the  latter  period  they  consisted  for  the  most 
part  of  the  idle  classes.  The  men  who  now  fled  were 
the  nobles  and  priests,  who  had  so  misguided  and  mis- 
taught  the  people  entrusted  to  their  charge,  that  in 
nearly  all  parts  of  France  they  rose  up  in  rebellion 
against  them. 

The  great  body  of  the  people  had  become  reduced 
to  absolute  destitution.  They  had  no  possession 
whatever  but  their  misery.  They  were  literally  dying 
of  hunger.  The  Bishop  of  Chartres  told  Louis  XV. 
that  in  his  diocese  the  men  browsed  like  sheep.  For 
want  of  food,  they  filled  their  stomachs  with  grass. 
The  dragoons,  who  had  before  been  employed  to  hunt 
down  the  Huguenots  because  of  their  attending  re- 
ligious meetings,  were  now  employed  on  a  different 
duty.  They  were  stationed  in  the  market-places 
where  meal  was  exposed  for  sale,  to  keep  back  the 
famishing  people. 

In  Paris  alone,  there  were  200,000  beggars  prowling 
about,  with  sallow  faces,  lank  hair,  and  hung  in  rags. 
In  1789,  crowds  of  them  were  seen  hovering  about 
the  Palais  Royal — spectral-looking  men  and  starving 
women,  delirious  from  fasting.  Some  were  said  not 
to  have  eaten  for  three  whole  days.  The  women 
wandered  about  like  hungry  lionesses;  for  they  had 
children.  One  Foulon,  a  member  of  the  King's  council, 
on  being  told  of  the  famine  endured  by  the  people, 
said — "  Wait  till  I  am  minister :  I  will  make  them 
eat  hay  ;  my  horses  eat  it."  The  words  were  bitterly 
avenged.  The  hungry  mob  seized  Foulon,  hanged  him 


252  DRAGONNADES  AND  NOYADJW.      CHAP.  xix. 

a  la  lanterne,  and  carried  his  head  about  the  streets, 
his  mouth  filled  with  hay. 

From  the  provinces,  news  came  that  the  starving 
Helots  were  everywhere  rising,  burning  down  the 
chateaus  of.  the  nobles,  tearing  up  their  title-deeds, 
and  destroying  their  crops.  On  these  occasions,  the 
church-bells  were  rung  by  way  of  tocsin,  and  the 
population  of  the  parish  turned  out  to  the  work  of 
destruction.  Seventy-two  chateaus  were  wrecked  and 
burnt  in  the  Maconnais  and  Beaujolais  alone ;  and  the 
conflagration  spread  throughout  Dauphiny,  Alsace, 
and  the  Lyonnais, — -the  very  quarters  from  which  the 
Huguenots  had  been  so  ferociously  driven  out  a  cen- 
tury before. 

There  was  scarcely  a  district  in  which  the  Hugue- 
nots had  pursued  their  branches  of  industry, — now 
wholly  suppressed, — in  which  the  starving  and  infu- 
riated peasantry  were  not  working  wild  havoc,  and 
taking  revenge  upon  their  lords.  They  had  learned 
but  too  well  the  lessons  of  the  sword,  the  dungeon, 
and  the  scaffold,  which  their  rulers  had  taught  them  ; 
and  the  Reign  of  Terror  which  ensued,  was  but  the 
natural  outcome  of  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew, 
the  wars  of  the  dragonnades,  and  the  ineffable  cruelties 
which  followed  the  Act  of  Revocation.  But  the  vic- 
tims had  now  changed  places.  Now  it  was  the  nobles 
who  were  persecuted,  burnt  out,  had  their  estates  con- 
fiscated, and  were  compelled  to  fly  for  their  lives. 

The  dragonnades  of  the  Huguenots  were  repeated  in 
the  noyades  of  the  Royalists ;  and  again  Nancy,  Lyons, 
Rouen,  Bordeaux,  Montauban,  and  numerous  other  places 
witnessed  a  repetition  of  the  cruelties  of  the  preceding 
century.  At  Nantes,  where  the  famous  Edict  of  Tole- 
ration (afterwards  revoked)  was  proclaimed,  the  guillo- 
tine was  worked  until  the  headsman  sank  exhausted ; 
and  to  hasten  matters,  a  general  fusillade  in  the  plain 
of  St.  Mauve  followed,  of  men,  women,  and  children. 
At  Paris,  the  hideous  Marat  called  for  "  eight  hundred 
gibbets,"  in  convenient  rows,  to  hang  the  enemies  of 


CHAP.  xix.       FLIGHT  OF  NOBLES  AND  PRIESTS.       353 

the  people.  He  would  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short 
of  "  two  hundred  thousand  aristocratic  heads." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  pursue  the  dreadful  story 
further.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  nobles,  like  the 
priests,  fled  out  of  France  to  escape  the  fury  of  the 
people,  and  they  too  made  for  England,  where  they 
received  the  same  asylum  which  had  been  given  to 
their  clergy.  To  prevent  the  flight  of  the  noblesse,  the 
same  measures  were  adopted  by  the  Convention  which 
Louis  XIV.  had  adopted  to  prevent  the  escape  of 
the  Huguenots.  The  frontiers  were  strictly  guarded, 
and  all  the  roads  patrolled  which  led  out  of  France. 
Severe  laws  were  passed  against  emigration  ;  and  the 
estates  of  fugitive  aristocrats  were  declared  to  be  con- 
fiscated to  the  state.  Nevertheless,  many  succeeded  in 
making  their  escape  into  Switzerland,  Germany,  and 
England. 

It  fared  still  worse  with  Louis  XVI.  and  his  beautiful 
queen,  Marie  Antoinette.  They  were  the  most  illus- 
trious victims  of  the  barbarous  policy  of  Louis  XIV. 
That  monarch  had  sowed  the  wind,  and  they  were 
now  reaping  the  whirlwind.  A  mob  of  starving  men 
and  women,  the  genuine  offspring  of  the  Great  King, 
burst  in  upon  Louis  and  his  consort  at  Versailles, 
shouting  "  Bread  !  bread  ! "  They  were  very  different 
from  the  plumed  and  garlanded  courtiers  accustomed 
to  worship  in  these  gilded  saloons.  They  insisted  on 
the  king  and  queen  accompanying  them  to  Paris, 
virtually  as  their  prisoners.  The  royal  family  tried  to 
escape,  as  the  Huguenots  had  done  before  them,  across 
the  frontier  into  Germany.  But  in  vain  I  The  king's 
own  highway  was  closed  against  him ;  and  the  fugi- 
tives were  led  back  to  Paris  and  the  guillotine. 

The  last  act  of  the  unfortunate  Louis  was  his  attempt 
to  address  a  few  words  to  his  subjects ;  when  the  drums 
were  ordered  to  be  beaten,  and  his  voice  was  drowned 
by  the  noise.  It  was  remembered  that  the  last  occa- 
sion on  which  a  like  scene  had  occurred  in  France,  was 
that  of  the  execution  of  the  young  Huguenot  pastor 

23 


354  FINAL  RESULTS  OF  REVOCATION.     CHAP.  xix. 

Fulcran  Rey,  at  Beaucaire.  When  he  opened  his  mouth 
publicly  to  confess  his  faith,  the  drummers  posted 
round  the  scaffold  were  ordered  to  beat,  and  his 
dying  speech  remained  unheard.  The  slaughter  of 
the  martyred  preacher  was  thus  terribly  avenged. 

We  think  we  are  justified  in  saying,  that  but  for 
the  persecution  and  expulsion  of  the  Huguenots  at 
the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  1685,  the 
Revolution  of  1789  most  probably  never  would  have 
occurred.  The  Protestants  supplied  that  enterprising 
and  industrious  middle  class  which  gives  stability  to 
every  state.  They  provided  remunerative  employment 
for  the  population,  while  at  the  same  time  they  en- 
riched the  kingdom  by  their  enterprise  and  industry. 
Moreover,  they  furnished  that  virtuous  and  religious 
element  in  society  without  which  a  nation  is  but  as 
so  much  chaff  that  is  driven  before  the  wind.  When 
they  were  suppressed  or  banished,  there  was  an  end  of 
their  industrial  undertakings.  The  further  growth  of 
a  prosperous  middle  class  was  prevented  ;  and  the  mis- 
government  of  the  ruling  class  being  unchecked,  the 
great  body  of  the  working  order  were  left  to  idleness, 
nakedness,  and  famine.  Faith  in  God  and  in  good 
died  out ;  religion,  as  represented  by  the  degenerate 
priesthood,  fell  into  contempt ;  and  the  reign  of 
materialism  and  atheism  began.  Frightful  distress 
at  length  culminated  in  revolution  and  anarchy ;  and 
there  being  no  element  of  stability  in  the  state, — no 
class  possessing  moral  weight  to  stand  between  the  in- 
furiated people  at  the  one  end  of  the  social  scale,  and 
the  king  and  nobles  at  the  other, — the  imposture 
erected  by  the  Great  Louis  was  assailed  on  all  sides, 
and  king,  church,  and  nobility  were  at  once  swept 
away. 

As  regards  the  emigration  of  the  Huguenots  in  1685, 
and  of  the  nobles  and  clergy  in  1789,  it  must  be  ac- 
knowledged that  the  former  was  by  much  the  most 
calamitous  to  France.  "Was  the  one  emigration 
greater  than  the  other  ? "  says  Michelet.  "  I  do  not 


CHAP.  xix.   RESULTS  AS  REGARDS  ENGLAND.  355 

know.  That  of  1685  was  probably  from  three  to  four 
hundred  thousand  persons.  However  this  may  be, 
there  was  this  great  difference  between  them  :  France, 
at  the  emigration  of  '89,  lost  its  idlers ;  at  the  other, 
its  workers.  The  terror  of  '89  struck  the  individual, 
and  each  feared  for  his  life.  The  terror  of  the  dragon- 
nades  struck  at  heart  and  conscience  ;  then  men  feared 
for  their  all." 

The  one  emigration  consisted  for  the  most  part  of 
nobles  and  clergy,  who  left  no  traces  of  their  settlement 
in  the  countries  which  gave  them  asylum  ;  the  other 
emigration  comprised  all  the  constituent  elements  of 
a  people — skilled  workmen  in  all  branches,  manufac- 
turers, merchants,  and  professional  men  ;  and  wherever 
they  settled  they  founded  numerous  useful  establish- 
ments which  were  a  source  of  prosperity  and  wealth. 

Assuredly  England  has  no  reason  to  regret  the 
asylum  which  she  has  in  all  times  so  freely  granted 
to  fugitives  flying  from  religious  persecution  abroad. 
Least  of  all  has  she  reason  to  regret  the  settlement 
within  her  borders  of  so  large  a  number  of  industrious, 
intelligent,  and  high-minded  Frenchmen,  who  have 
made  this  country  their  home  since  the  Revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  thereby  not  only  stimulated, 
but  in  a  measure  created,  British  industry  ;  while,  at 
the  same  time  they  have  influenced,  in  a  remarkable 
degree,  our  political  as  well  as  our  religious  history 


DISTINGUISHED    HUGUENOT    REFUGEES 

AND  THEIB 

DESCENDANTS. 


DISTINGUISHED    HUGUENOT    REFUGEES 


THEIR  DESCENDANTS. 


ABBADIE,  JAMES,  D.D.  :  a 
native  of  Nay,  in  Beam,  where 
he  was  born  in  1654.  An  able 
preacher  and  writer  ;  first  set- 
tled in  Berlin,  which  he  left  to 
accompany  the  Duke  of  Schom- 
berg  into  England.  He  was 
for  some  time  minister  of  the 
Church  of  the  Savoy,  London, 
and  afterwards  became  Dean 
of  Killaloe,  in  Ireland.  He 
died  in  London,  1727.  For 
notice  see  p.  252. 

A'LASCO  :  see  p.  116. 

ALLIX,  PETER  :  an  able 
preacher  and  controversialist. 
Born  at  Alencon,  1641  ;  died 
in  London,  1717.  He  was  one 
of  the  ministers  of  the  great 
church  at  Charenton,  near 
Paris.  At  the  Revocation  he 
took  refuge  in  England,  where 
he  was  appointed  canon  and 
treasurer  to  the  Cathedral  of 
Salisbury.  For  notice  see  p. 
253. 

AMAND,  or  AMYAND  :  a  Hu- 
guenot refugee  of  this  name 
settled  in  Lon'don  in  the  begin- 
ning of  last  century.  His  son 


1764),  who  sat  in  Parliament 
for  Barnstaple.  The  second 
baronet  assumed  the  name  of 
Cornewall.  His  daughter  mar- 
ried Sir  Gilbert  Frankland 
Lewis,  Bart.,  and  was  the 
mother  of  the  late  Sir  Corne- 
wall Lewis,  Bart.,  M.P.  Wil- 
liam Henry  Haggard  of  Brades- 
ham,  Norfolk,  married  Miss 
Frances  Amyand,  who  belonged 
to  a  younger  branch  of  the 
family,  in  right  of  whom  the 
present  Mr.  Haggard  now  pos- 
sesses Amyand  House,  Twick- 
enham. 


:  the  name  of  a  French 
refugee  f  airily  settled  in  South- 
ampton, to  whom  the  celebrated 
and  unfortunate  Major  Andre' 
belonged,  —  though  the  latter 
was  brought  up  at  Lichfield. 

ABNAUD  :  a  Huguenot  family 
of  noble  descent.  In  Mon- 
strelet's  continuation  of  Frois- 
sart's  Chronicles,  translated  by 
Thomas  Jones,  an  ancestor  of 
the  Arnauds  is  described  in  a 
note  (i.  348)  as  "  Guillem-Ar- 
naud,  baron  of  Barbazan  in 


Claude  was  principal  surgeon !  Bigorre,  first  Chamberlain  to 
to  George  H.  ;  and  the  two  j  Charles  VII. ,  afterwards  Gov- 
sons  of  the  latter  were  Claudius,  j  ernor  of  Champagne  and  the 
Under  Secretary  of  State,  and  j  Lionnais,"  etc.  The  king  gave 
George  (created  a  baronet  in  him  the  title  of  Chevalier  sans 


360 


HUGUENOT  REFUGEES. 


ARX— AtTB. 


repi-oche,  and  permitted  him  to 
take  the  fleur-de-lys  for  his 
arms.  He  was  killed  at  Belle- 
ville in  1432,  and  buried  with 
the  highest  honours."  Shake- 
speare, in  his  play  of  Henry  V., 
alludes  to  him  as  a  "devil," 
i.e.  to  the  English  army  to 
which  he  was  opposed.  A  de- 
scendant of  his  was  the  Marquis 
de  Pompone  (Simon  Arnaud), 
Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign 
Affairs  to  Louis  XIV.  In  the 
sixteenth  century  a  branch  of 
the  family  became  Huguenot, 
and  emigrated  to  England. 
The  ancestor  of  the  English 
Arnauds  was,  when  quite  a 
child,  smuggled  out  of  France 
in  a  hamper,  and  brought  across 
the  English  Channel  in  an  open 
boat.  Elias  Arnaud,  his  son, 
subsequently  became  a  thriving 
merchant  at  Portsmouth,  and 
was  appointed  deputy  -  lieu- 
tenant for  the  county  of  Hants. 
His  son  Elias  Bruce  Arnaud 
was  also  a  deputy  -  lieutenant, 
and  a  very  active  magistrate. 
In  1804,  when  England  was 
threatened  with  invasion  by 
the  French,  he  raised  a  regi- 
ment of  infantry  at  Ports- 
mouth, and  commanded  it  as 
colonel.  His  second  son,  John, 
was  a  lieutenant  in  the  llth 
Regiment  at  Toulouse,  where 
(according  to  Sir  Wm.  Napier, 
in  his  History  of  the  Peninsular 
War,  vi.  169)  two  British  regi- 
ments, the  llth  and  91st,  came 
up  and  turned  the  tide  of 
battle,  which,  until  then,  had 
gone  in  favour  of  the  French. 
He  died  a  few  years  ago,  a 
major  -  general,  K.H.  His 
eldest  son  Elias,  for  many 
years  collector  of  customs  at 


Liverpool,  was  the  father  of 
Henry  Bruce  Arnaud,  now  a 
member  of  the  English  bar. 
The  present  representative  of 
the  second  or  junior  branch  of 
the  Arnauds,  is  John  Macaulay 
Arnaud,  related,  through  his 
maternal  grandfather  John  Ma- 
caulay, formerly  of  Ardincaple 
in  Dumbartonshire,  to  the  late 
Lord  Macaulay,  and  through 
the  ancient  family  of  the  Oli- 
phants  of  Gask  in  Perthshire, 
to  several  noblemen  and  per- 
sons of  distinction,  including 
the  celebrated  Lady  Nairne. 
The  Arnauds  are  also  related 
to  Sir  George  Bowyer,  Sir 
Maziere  Brady,  ex-Lord  Chan- 
cellor of  Ireland,  and  the  late 
Sir  Lucius  Curtis,  admiral  of 
the  fleet. 

ARNAULD,  JOHN  :  James 
Fontaine,  in  his  Autobiography, 
frequently  makes  mention  of 
his  cousin,  John  Arnauld,  set- 
tled in  London. 

AUBERTIN  :  This  family 
originally  belonged  to  Metz, 
in  Lorraine.  The  original  emi- 
grant fled  from  France  at  the 
Revocation,  leading  his  grand- 
child, a  little  boy,  by  the  hand. 
They  arrived  at  Neuchatel,  in 
Switzerland  ;  other  members  of 
the  family  joined  them  ;  and 
they  settled  there  for  a  time. 
But  the  great-grandson  of  the 
original  emigrant,  not  finding  a 
small  place  like  Neuchatel  to 
his  taste,  left  it  about  a  century 
ago,  and  naturalized  himself  in 
England.  His  son,  the  late 
Rev.  Peter  Auberton,  vicar  of 
Chepstead,  Surrey,  died  in 
1861,  in  his  86th  year,  leaving 
a  numerous  family.  The  Rev. 
Edmund  Auberton,  of  Chalon- 


AUK — BAS. 


HUGUENOT  REFUGEES. 


361 


sur-Marne,  a  famous  Protestant 
divine,  author  of  the  famous 
work  on  the  Eucharist,  which  so 
much  disturbed  Rome  at  the 
time  of  its  publication,  was  a 
collateral  ancestor  of  the  same 
family. 

AUFRERE,  GEORGE,  M.P.  : 
descended  from  a  Huguenot 
refugee  ;  sat  for  Stamford  in 
Parliament  from  1761  to  1768. 

AURIOL,  PETER  :  a  refugee 
from  Lower  Languedoc,  who 
rose  to  eminence  as  a  London 
merchant.  The  Archbishop  of 
York,  the  Hon.  and  Most  Rev. 
R.  N.  Drummond,  married  his 
daughter  and  heiress,  Henri- 
etta, and  afterwards  succeeded 
to  the  peerage  of  Strathallan. 
The  refugee's  daughter  thus  be- 
came Countess  of  Strathallan. 
The  present  head  of  the  family 
is  the  Earl  of  Kinnoul,  who 
continues  to  bear  the  name  of 
Auriol.  The  Rev.  Edward 
Auriol  is  rector  of  St.  Dun- 
stan's-in-the-West,  London. 

BACQTJENCOURT  :  See  Des 
Vceux. 

BARBON  :  A  French  Hugue- 
not family  of  this  name  lived 
at  Wandsworth.  The  name 
was  changed  to  Barbone,  or 
Barebone.  In  Mount  Nod, 
the  French  burying-ground  at 
Wandsworth,  is  a  tombstone 
bearing  this  inscription :  "Sarai, 
daughter  of  Praise  Barbone, 
was  buried  13th  April,  1635." 
Praise-God  Barebone,  the  lea- 
ther-seller in  Fetter  Lane, 
belonged  to  this  family. 

BARON,  PETER  :  Professor 
in  the  University  of  Cambridge 
about  1575.  He  was  originally 
from  Etampes,  and  fled  to 
England  after  the  massacre  of 


Saint  Bartholomew.  He  died 
in  London,  leaving  behind  him 
an  only  son,  Samuel,  who 
practised  medicine  at  Lyme- 
Regis  in  Norfolk. 

BARRE':  a  Protestant  family 
of  Pont-Gibau,  near  Rochelle, 
several  members  of  which  set- 
tled in  Ireland.  Peter  Barr£ 
married  Miss  Raboteau,  also  a 
refugee.  He  was  an  alderman 
of  Dublin,  and  carried  on  a 
large  business  as  a  linendraper. 
His  son  Isaac,  educated  at 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  en- 
tered the  army,  in  which  he 
rose  to  high  rank.  He  was 
adjutant-general  of  the  British 
forces  under  Wolfe  at  Quebec. 
He  afterwards  entered  Parlia- 
ment, where  he  distinguished 
himself  by  his  eloquence  and 
his  opposition  to  the  American 
Stamp  Act.  In  1776  Colonel 
Barre  was  made  Vice-Treasurer 
of  Ireland  and  Privy  Coun- 
cillor. He  subsequently  held 
the  offices  of  Treasurer  of  the 
Navy  and  Paymaster  of  the 
Forces,  in  both  of  which  he 
displayed  eminent  integrity 
and  ability.  He  died  in  1802. 
See  also  pp.  173,  331. 

BASNAGE  :  Few  families  in 
France  have  produced  so  many 
persons  of  literary  distinc- 
tion and  moral  worth,  as  the 
Basnages.  Nicholas  Basnage 
was  driven  by  the  persecutions 
which  followed  the  massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  to  take  refuge 
in  England,  where  he  for  some 
time  officiated  as  pastor  of  the 
French  Walloon  Church  at  Nor- 
wich. He  afterwards  returned 
to  France.  His  son  Benjamin 
succeeded  his  father  as  minister 
of  Charenton,  and  was  head  of 


362 


tiUGUENOT  REFUGEES. 


BAT — BAY. 


the  Protestant  assembly  held  at 
Bochelle,  in  1622.  He  was  sent 
over  to  England  on  a  mission, 
to  solicit  aid  from  James  I.  for 
the  Protestants.  He  was  the 
author  of  several  able  works, 
and  during  his  lifetime  was 
regarded  as  one  of  the  chief 
luminaries  of  the  Protestant 
Church.  Antoine,  son  of  Ben- 
jamin, was  minister  of  Bayeux, 
and  was  long  imprisoned  be- 
cause of  his  faith,  in  the  prison 
of  Havre  de  Grace.  After  the 
Revocation,  he  escaped  to 
Zutphen,  in  Holland,  where 
he  was  minister  of  a  French 
congregation,  and  died  in  1681. 
Samuel  Basnage,  son  of  Antoine, 
was  a  minister,  like  his  father, 
and,  like  him,  escaped  to  Zut- 
phen, succeeding  him  in  his 
charge.  He  was  the  author  of 
numerous  works,  greatly  prized 
in  their  time.  Henri  Basnage 
was  one  of  the  most  able  and 
eloquent  advocates  in  the  Par- 
liament of  Rouen.  His  learning 
was  great,  and  his  integrity 
unsullied.  But  his  eldest  son, 
Jacques  Basnage,  was  the  most 
eminent  member  of  the  family. 
He  was  a  man  of  immense 
learning.  At  the  early  age  of 
23,  he  was  appointed  minister 
of  the  great  Protestant  church 
at  Grand  Queville,  near  Rouen, 
capable  o  f  accommodating 
10,500  persons.  When  that 
church  was  demolished,  and 
the  persecution  waxed  very 
hot,  he  took  refuge  at  the 
Hague.  While  there  he  was 
often  employed  in  delicate 
state  affairs,  which  he  skilfully 
conducted  ;  and  Voltaire  said  of 
him,  that  he  was  better  fitted 
to  be  a  minister  of  state  than 


of  a  parish.  He  published 
eleven  learned  historical  works 
in  his  lifetime,  some  of  which 
passed  through  many  editions. 
His  younger  brother,  Henri, 
was  also  an  esteemed  author. 
Like  Jacques,  he  took  refuge 
in  Holland,  and  died  there. 

BATZ:  the  name  of  a  Hugue- 
not family,  the  head  of  which 
was  seigneur  of  Monan,    near 
i  Nerac,  in  Guyenne.     Three  of 
!  the   sons  of  Joseph  de  Batz, 
1  seigneur  of  Guay,  escaped  from 
France   into  Holland,  and  en- 
|  tered  the  service  of  the  Prince 
;  of  Orange,  whom  they  accom- 
panied   in    his   expedition    to 
England.     Two  of  them,   cap- 
tains of  infantry,    were  killed 
at  the  Boyne. 

BAUDOTTIN  :  This  family  is 
descended  from  Jacques  Bau- 
douin,  whose  tombstone,  in 
Mount  Nod  burying-ground  at 
Wandsworth,  relates  all  that 
we  know  of  him  :  "  James 
Baudouin,  Esq.,  born  at  Nismes, 
in  France ;  but  in  the  year 
1685,  fled  from  France  to  avoid 
Tyranny  and  Persecution,  and 
enjoyed  a  Protestant  Liberty 
of  Conscience,  which  he  sought, 
and  happily  found,  and  was 
gratefully  sensible  of,  in  the 
Communion  of  the  Church  of 
England.  He  constantly  an- 
swered this  pious  Resolution  in 
i  his  life,  and  went  to  enjoy  the 
j  blessed  Fruits  of  it,  by  his 
i  death  on  the  2nd  day  of  Feb., 
1 1738-9,  aged  91." 

BAYLEY,  Sir  JOHN,  Bart.  : 
the  late  distinguished  Judge  of 
i  the  Court  of  Queen's  Bench, 
;( 1808-30),  afterwards  a  Baron 
j  of  the  Court  of  Exchequer  and 
•  Privy  Councillor,  was  fourth  in 


fiEA    -BEL. 


HUGUENOT  REFUGEES. 


363 


descent  from  Philippe  de  Bail- 
leul,  a  French  Protestant  re- ' 
fugee,  who  settled  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Thorney  Abbey 
about  the  year  1656.  It  is  be- 
lieved that  the  family  originally 
came  from  the  neighbourhood 
of  Lille,  where  there  are  still 
many  of  the  same  name  ;  and 
that  they  joined  the  Walloon 
colony,  which  in  the  first  place  i 
settled  at  Sandtoft  in  York- 
shire, but  migrated  from  thence 
to  Thorney  Abbey  during  the 
wars  of  the  Commonwealth. 
The  above  Philippe  de  Bailleul, 
or  his  son  Daniel,  purchased  a 
small  estate  at  Willow  Hall, 
near  Peterborough,  which  still 
belongs  to  the  family.  These 
two  married  daughters  of  Pro- 
testant refugees  ;  but  Daniel's 
son,  Isaac  Bayley,  married 
Orme  Bigland,  a  member  of  the 
ancient  family  of  Bigland  of 
Bigland  ;  and  their  second  son, 
John  Bayley,  married  Sarah 
Kennet,  granddaughter  and  j 
heir  of  White  Kennet,  Bishop  j 
of  Peterborough,  by  whom  he 
became  father  of  Sir  John 
Bayley,  and  grandfather  of  the 
late  Judge  Bayley,  of  the 
Westminster  County  Court. 
The  original  name  of  De  Bail- 
leul has  undergone  many  trans- 
mutations,— passing  through 
Balieu,  Balieul,  Bayly,  Bailly, 
and  ultimately  arriving  at  Bay- 
ley. 

BEAUFORT,  DANIEL  CORNE- 
LIS  DE  :  a  controversial  writer. 
He  was  pastor  of  the  church  of 
New  Patente  in  1728  ;  oi  the 
Artillery  in  1728  ;  and  of  the 
Savoy,  and  probably  Spring 
Gardens,  in  1741.  He  after- 
wards went  to  Ireland,  where 


he  held  the  living  of  Navan, 
and  was  appointed  Dean  of 
Tuam.  Admiral  Sir  Francis 
Beaufort,  Hydrographer  Royal, 
belonged  to  the  family,  as  also 
does  Lady  Strangford  and  the 
rector  of  Lymm.  Cheshire. 

BEAUVOIR,  DE  :  the  name  of 
one  of  the  most  ancient  families 
in  Languedoc,  several  branches 
of  which  were  Protestant. 
Francis,  eldest  son  of  Scipio 
du  Roure,  took  refuge  in  Eng- 
land at  the  Revocation,  and 
obtained  a  company  in  a  cavalry 
regiment.  His  two  sons  also 
followed  the  career  of  arms  with 
distinction .  Alexander,  the 
eldest,  was  colonel  of  the  4th 
Foot,  Governor  of  Plymouth, 
Lieutenant-General,  Comman- 
der-in-Chief  in  Scotland,  etc. 
He  especially  distinguished 
himself  at  the  battle  of  Dettin- 
gen.  He  went  into  France  for 
the  benefit  of  his  health,  and 
died  at  Bareges,  where  he 
had  gone  for  the  benefit  of  the 
waters.  The  French  Govern- 
ment having  refused  his  body 
Christian  burial,  in  consequence 
of  his  being  the  son  of  a  Protes- 
tant refugee,  the  body  was  em- 
balmed and  sent  to  England 
to  be  buried.  The  second  son, 
Scipio,  was  also  the  colonel  of 
an  English  Infantry  regiment, 
and  was  killed  at  the  battle  of 
;  Fontenoy. — Another  family  of 
I  the  same  name  is  sprung  from 
|  Richard  de  Beauvoir,  Esq. ,  of 
the  island  of  Guernsey,  who 
purchased  the  manor  of  Balmes, 
in  the  parish  of  Hackney,  and 
'  thus  gave  its  name  to  De  Beau 
voir  Town. 

BELCASTEL     DE     MONTVAIL- 
LANT,  PIERRE  :  a  refugee  officer 


364 


HUGUENOT  REFUGEES. 


from  Languedoc,  who  entered  ;  his  Irish  cousin.  She  died 
the  service  of  William  of  Orange,  j  without  issue,  and  the  widower 
After  the  death  of  La  Caille-jnext  married  a  Mademoiselle 
motte  at  the  Boyne,  he  was  \  Mestayer,  also  of  French  de- 
made  colonel  of  the  regiment.  '  scent. — Beranger  was  a  very 
Belcastel  took  a  prominent  part  clever,  observant  man.  He 


in  the  Irish  campaigns  of  1690- 
91.  He  was  eventually  raised 
to  the  rank  of  major-general  in 
the  Dutch  army.  He  was  killed 
at  the  battle  of  Villa  Viciosa, 
Spain,  in  1710. 

BENEZET,  ANTOINE  :  one  of 
the  earliest  and  most  zealous 
advocates  of  negro  emancipa- 
tion. He  was  born  in  London 
in  1713,  of  an  honest  refugee 
couple  from  Saint-Quentin,  and 


was  employed  by  an  anti- 
qxiarian  society  in  Dublin, 
under  Burton,  Conyngham, 
and  Valiancy,  to  travel  through 
Ireland  in  company  with  the 
celebrated  Italian  architect, 
Signer  Bigari,  and  describe 
and  draw  the  various  antiqui- 
ties of  Ireland.  A  consider- 
able collection  of  his  drawings 
and  MSS.  recently  came  into 
the  possession  of  the  late  Sir 


bred  to  the  trade  of  a  cooper,  j  W.  R.  Wilde,  who  contributed 
He  accompanied  his  parents  to  an  illustrative  memoir  of  Be- 
America,  and  settled  at  Phila- :  ranger  to  the  Kilkenny  Journal 
delphia.  There  he  became  a  |  of  Archaeology.  He  died  in  St. 
Quaker,  and  devoted  himself  Stephen's  Green,  Dublin,  in 


with  great  zeal  to  the  question 
of  emancipation  of  the  blacks, 
— for  whose  children  he  estab- 
lished and  supported  schools 
in  Philadelphia.  He  died  there 
in  1784. 

BENOIT,  N.  :  a  refugee  silk- 
weaver  settled  in  Spitalfields. 
He  was  the  author  of  several 
controversial  works,  more  par- 
ticularly relating  to  baptism  ; 
Benoit  being  of  the  Baptist 
persuasion. 

BERANGER  :  a  branch  of  the 
Huguenot  family  of  this  name 
settled  in  Ireland  and  another 
in  Holland,  but  both  dwindled 
in  numbers  until,  in  1750,  they 
became  reduced  to  two — one 
the  only  surviving  son  of  the 
Dutch  refugee,  and  the  other 
the  only  surviving  daughter  of 
the  Irish  refugee.  The  Dutch- 
man, Gabriel  Beranger,  came 
over  to  Dublin  and  married 


1817,  and  was  interred  in  the 
French  burying-ground  there. 

BERTHEATT,  Rev.  CHARLES  : 
refugee  pastor  in  London  :  a 
native  of  Montpellier.  He  was 
expelled  from  Paris,  where 
he  was  one  of  the  minis- 
ters of  the  great  Protestant 
church  of  Charenton,  at  the 
Revocation.  He  became  minis- 
ter of  the  Walloon  church  in 
Threadneedle  Street,  which 
office  he  filled  for  forty-four 
years.  Several  volumes  of  his 
sermons  have  been  published. 

BERNIERE,  JEAN  AXTOINE  DE  : 
a  refugee  officer  who  served 
under  the  Earl  of  Galway  in 
Spain.  He  lost  a  hand  at  the 
battle  of  Almanza.  His  son 
was  captain  in  the  30th  Foot ; 
his  grandson  (Henry  Abraham 
Crommelin  de  Berniere),  was  a 
major-general  in  the  British 
army  ;  and  his  great-grandson, 


BIO-  BOG. 


HUGUENOT  REFUGEES. 


365 


married  to  the  sister  of  the  late 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  rose 
to  the  same  rank. 

BION,  JEAN  FRANgois  :  a 
native  of  Dijon,  Roman  Catho- 
lic curate  of  Ursy,  afterwards 
appointed  chaplain  to  the  gal- 
ley Superbe  at  Toulon,  which 
contained  a  large  number  of 
galley-slaves  condemned  for 
their  faith.  Touched  by  their 
sufferings,  as  well  as  by  the 
patience  and  courage  with 
which  they  bore  them,  Bion 
embraced  Protestantism,  ex- 
claiming. "Their  blood  preaches 
to  me  ! "  He  left  France  for 
Geneva  in  1704,  and  afterwards 
took  refuge  in  London,  where 
he  was  appointed  rector  of  a 
school,  and  officiated  as  minis- 
ter to  the  French  church  at 
Chelsea.  He  subsequently 
proceeded  to  Holland,  where  he 
exercised  the  functions  of  chap- 
lain to  an  English  church.  He 
was  the  author  of  several  works, 
— the  best  known  being  his 
Relation  des  Tourmens  qne  Von 
fait  souffrir  aux  Protestans 
ijui  sont  sur  les  Galeres  de 
France,  published  at  London 
in  1708. 

BLANC,  ANTHONY  :  pastor  of 
the  French  church  of  La  Nou- 
velle  Patente  in  1G92.  Theo- 
dore and  Jean  Blanc  were  two 
other  French  refugee  pastors 
in  London  about  the  same  time, 
the  latter  being  pastor  of  L'Ar- 
tillerie .  The  Blancs  were  from 
Saintonge  and  Poitou. 

BLAQUI^RE,  DE  :  a  noble 
family  of  Limousin,  of  whom 
John  de  Blaquie're,  a  zealous 
Huguenot,  took  refuge  in  Eng- 
land in  1685.  He  married  Mary 
Elizabeth  de  Varennes,  the 


daughter  of  a  refugee,  by  whom 
he  had  issue.  One  of  his  sons 
became  eminent  as  a  London 
merchant ;  another  settled  at 
Lisburn,  where  his  sister  mar- 
ried John  Crommelin,  son  of 
Louis.  The  fifth  son,  John, 
entered  the  army,  and  became 
lieutenant-colonel  of  the  17th 
Light  Dragoons.  He  held 
various  public  offices :  was  Sec- 
retary of  Legation  at  Paris ; 
secretary  to  the  Lord-Lieu- 
tenant of  Ireland  ;  was  made 
a  baronet  in  1784  ;  and  raised 
to  the  peerage  in  1800  as 
Lord  de  Blaquie're  of  Ardkill 
in  Ireland. 

BLONDEL,  MOSES  :  a  learned 
refugee  scholar  in  London 
about  1621,  author  of  a  work 
on  the  Apocryphal  writings. 

BLONDEL,  JAMES  AUGUSTUS  : 
a  distinguished  refugee  phy- 
sician in  London,  as  well  as  an 
able  scholar.  The  author  of 
several  learned  and  scientific 
treatises.  He  died  in  1734. 

BLOSSET  :  a  Nivernais  Pro- 
testant family,  the  head  of 
which  was  the  Sieur  de  Fleury. 
Several  Blossets  fled  into  Hol- 
land and  England  at  the  Re- 
vocation. Colonel  Blosset,  of 
"Blosset's  Foot,"  who  settled 
in  Ireland,  was  the  owner  of  a 
good  estate  in  the  county  of 
Dublin.  Serjeant  Blosset,  after- 
wards Lord  Chief-Justice  of 
Bengal,  belonged  to  the  family. 
For  his  connection  with  Mr. 
Grote,  see  p.  322. 

BOCHART,  FRANCOIS  :  Haag 
says  that  amongst  the  Protes- 
tant refugees  in  Scotland, 
Francis  Bochart  has  been  men- 
tioned, who,  in  conjunction 
with  Claude  Paulin,  established 


366 


HUGUENOT  REFUGEES. 


BOD — BON. 


in  1730  the  manufacture  of 
cambric  at  Edinburgh. 

BODT  or  BOTT,  JOHN  DE  :  a 
refugee  French  officer :  ap- 
pointed captain  of  artillery  and 
engineers  in  the  British  ser- 
vice in  1690.  He  distinguished 
himself  by  the  operations  con- 
ducted by  him  at  the  siege  of 
Namur — to  which  William  III. 
mainly  attributed  the  capture 
of  the  place.  Bodt  afterwards 
entered  the  service  of  the  King 
of  Prussia,  who  made  him  bri- 
gadier and  chief  engineer.  He 
was  also  eminent  as  an  archi- 
tect, and  designed  some  of  the 
principal  public  buildings  in 
Berlin. 

BOESMER    DE     LA     TotTCHE  : 

pastor  of  the  French  congrega- 
tion at  Winchelsea  in  1700-6. 
His  son,  of  the  same  name,  was 
a  surgeon  in  London  in  1764. 

BOEVEY,  ANDREW  :  a  Pro- 
testant refugee  from  Courtray, 
in  Flanders  He  fled  into 
England  during  the  persecu- 
tions carried  on  in  the  reign  of 
Philip  H.,  and  settled  in  Lon- 
don in  1572.  He  was  a  suc- 
cessful merchant ;  and  at  his 
death,  he  left  legacies  to  the 
Dutch  congregations  ID  London, 
Norwich,  and  Haarlem.  His 
successors  became  landed  pro- 
prietors and  intermarried  with 
the  aristocracy ;  Sir  Thomas 
Hyde  Crawley  Boevey,  Bart., 
Flaxley  Abbey,  being  the  pre- 
sent head  of  the  family. 

BOILEAXT  DE  CASTELNATI  :  an 
ancient  Languedoc  family,  many 
of  whose  members  embraced 
Protestantism  and  remained 
faithful  to  it.  Jacques  Boileau, 
fifth  Baron,  counsellor  of 
Nismes,  born  1657,  died  in 


prison  in  France,  after  a  con- 
finement of  ten  years  and  six 
months,  for  his  adherence  to 
the  Protestant  religion.  His 
son  Charles  took  refuge  in 
England,  served  in  the  Eng- 
lish army  as  captain  of  in- 
fantry, and  died  at  Dublin. 
His  son  Simeon,  born  at  South- 
ampton, was  succeeded  by 
Solomon  Boileau,  who  had 
sons,  from  the  eldest  of  whom, 
Simeon  Peter,  the  present 
Major-General  Boileau  is  de- 
scended ;  Sir  John  Boileau, 
Bart.,  being  descended  from 
John  Peter,  the  fifth  son.  See 
also  p.  329. 

BOILEAU  :  see  Bouherau. 

BOISBELATT  DE  LA   CHAPELLE, 

usually  known  as  Armand  de  la 
Chapelle.  He  left  France  at  the 
B^vocation.  He  was  destined 
for  the  ministry  from  an  early 
age.  At  eighteen  he  was  sent 
into  Ireland  to  preach  to  the 
French  congregations,  and  after 
two  years,  at  the  age  of  twenty, 
he  was  appointed  pastor  of  the 
French  church  at  Wandsworth. 
He  subsequently  officiated  as 
minister  of  the  Artillery  church, 
and  of  the  French  church  at  the 
Hague.  He  was  a  voluminous 
writer. 

BONHOMME  :  a  Protestant 
draper  from  Paris,  who  settled 
at  Ipswich,  and  instructed  the 
artizans  there  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  sail-cloth,  which  shortly 
became  a  considerable  branch 
of  British  industry. 

BOXNELL,  THOMAS  :  a  gen- 
tleman of  good  family  near 
Ypres,  in  Flanders,  who  took 
refuge  in  England  from  the 
Duke  of  Alva's  persecutions, 
and  settled  at  Norwich,  of 


BOS — BOTT. 


HUGUEXOT  REFUGEES. 


367 


which  he  became  mayor.  His 
son  was  Daniel  Bonnell,  mer- 
chant, of  London,  father  of 
Samuel  Bonnell,  who  served 
his  apprenticeship  with  Sir 
William  Courteen  (a  Flemish 
refugee),  and  established  him- 
self as  a  merchant  at  Leghorn. 
He  returned  to  England,  and 
at  the  Bestoration  was  ap- 
pointed accountant-general  for 
Ireland.  He  died  at  Dublin, 
and  was  succeeded  in  the  office 
by  his  son,  a  man  eminent  for 
his  piety,  and  whose  life  has 
been  fully  written  by  Arch- 
deacon Hamilton,  of  Armagh. 

BOSANQTJET,  DAVID  :  a  Hu- 
guenot refugee,  naturalised  in 
England  in  1687.  His  grand- 
son, Samuel,  was  a  director  of 
the  Bank  of  England.  Mary, 
the  sister  of  the  latter,  was  the 
celebrated  wife  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Fletcher,  vicar  of  Madeley. 
Other  members  occupied  illus- 
trious positions  in  society.  One, 
William,  founded  the  well- 
known  bank  in  London.  Sir 
John  B.  Bosanquet,  the  cele- 
brated judge,  also  belonged  to 
the  family,  which  is  now  re- 
presented by  Samuel  Richard 
Bosanquet,  of  Dingestow  Court, 
Monmouth. 

BOSQUET,  ANDREW:  a  refugee 
from  Languedoc,  who  escaped 
into  England  after  suffering 
fourteen  years'  slavery  in  the 
French  King's  galleys.  He  was 
the  originator  of  the  West- 
minster French  Charity  School, 
founded  in  1747,  for  the  educa- 
tion of  children  of  poor  French 
refugees. 

BOSTAQUET,  DtTMONT  DE  :  for 

notice  see  pp.  202-28. 
BOUFARD,  see  Garric. 


BOUHERATJ,  ELIAS,  M.D., 
D.D. :  son  of  one  of  the  Pro- 
testant pastors  of  La  Rochelle, 
from  which  port  he  escaped  at 
the  Revocation,  carrying  with 
him  the  records  of  the  Consis- 
tory, of  which  his  father  was 
president.  He  settled  in  Dublin, 
where  he  was  appointed  libra- 
rian to  the  Marsh  Library  (now 
known  as  St.  Patrick's  Library), 
and  deposited  the  above-men- 
tioned papers  in  a  strong  box. 
He  afterwards  officiated  as  sec- 
retary to  the  Earl  of  Galway. 
When  the  Earl  left  Ireland, 
Dr.  Bouherau  became  pastor 
of  one  of  the  French  congrega- 
tions in  Dublin ;  but,  having 
been  officially  ordained,  he 
afterwards  officiated  as  chantor 
of  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral.  One 
of  his  sons,  John,  entered  the 
church  ;  another  was  "  Town- 
major  of  Dublin."  The  latter 
altered  his  name  to  Borough ; 
and  from  him  the  present  Sir  E. 
R.  Borough,  of  Baseldon  Park, 
Berkshire,  is  lineally  descended. 
Within  the  last  few  years  the 
original  box,  containing  the 
records  of  the  church  of  La 
Rochelle  previous  to  the  Revo- 
cation, brought  over  by  Dr. 
Bouherau  in  1685,  was  opened, 
and  a  paper  found  in  it  in  the 
doctor's  handwriting,  directing 
that,  in  the  event  of  the  Protes- 
tant Consistory  at  La  Rochelle 
ever  becoming  reconstituted 
and  reclaiming  the  papers,  they 
were  to  be  given  up.  A  com- 
munication was  accordingly  for- 
warded to  the  Consistory  of  La 
Rochelle,  offering  to  restore  the 
papers ;  and  they  were  duly 
forwarded  to  Pastor  Delmas, 
the  president,  who  has  since 


368 


HUGUENOT  REFUGEES. 


BOU — BBI. 


published,  with  their  assist- 
ance, a  history  of  the  Pro- 
testant church  of  La  Rochelle. 

BOURDILLON,  JACOB  :  an  able 
an  eloquent  pastor  of  several 
French  churches  in  London. 
For  notice;  see  pp.  285-7. 

BOURGEOIS,  BURGESS  :  an 
ancient  Protestant  family  of 
Picardy  (seigneurs  of  Gamache 
and  d'Oye,  and  of  de  la  Fosse'), 
a  member  of  which,  VaMry  or 
Vale'rien  de  Bourgeois,  came 
over  to  England  with  one  of 
the  first  bodies  of  immigrants, 
and  settled  with  the  earliest 
congregation  at  Canterbury. 
Births,  deaths,  and  marriages 
of  members  of  the  family  ap- 
pear in  the  registers  of  the 
Huguenot  church  there,  from 
the  year  1592  downwards.  In 
that  year  Rolin  Bourgeois  "  de 
Gamache  en  Picardie,"  son  of 
the  original  refugee,  married 
Marie  Gambier  ;  and  successive 
intermarriages  took  place  with 
members  of  the  De  Money,  Le 
Cornue,  La  Motte,  and  Four- 
nier  families,  down  to  the 
middle  of  last  century,  when 
the  Huguenot  identity  became 
almost  unrecognisable,  and 
Bourgeois  was  changed  to  Bur- 
gess. The  tradition,  however, 
contimied  to  exist  in  the  family, 
that  they  were  of  Huguenot 
extraction  ;  and  since  the  pub- 
lication of  the  first  edition  of 
this  book,  Lieutenant  Burgess, 
late  of  the  46th  Regiment,  has, 
with  the  assistance  of  the 
Heralds'  College  of  France 
and  the  Canterbury  Registers, 
clearly  traced  the  pedigree  of 
his  family  back  to  the  seigneurs 
of  Gamache. 

BOUVERIES,  LAURENCE  DBS  : 


a  refugee  from  Sainghen,  near 
Lille,  in  1568.  He  settled  first 
at  Sandwich,  and  afterwards  at 
Canterbury,  where  he  began 
the  business  of  a  silk  weaver. 
Edward,  the  grandson  of  Lau- 
rence, established  himself  in 
London  as  a  Levant  merchant ; 
and  from  that  time  the  family 
greatly  prospered.  William  was 
made  a  baronet  in  1711 ;  and 
Jacob  was  created  a  peer,  under 
the  title  of  Viscount  Folke- 
stone, in  1747.  His  son  Philip 
assumed  the  name  of  Pusey 
on  his  marriage  in  1798.  The 
Rev.  Dr.  Pusey,  of  Oxford,  is 
one  of  the  sons  by  this  mar- 
riage. For  further  notice  see 
p.  320. 

BOYER,  ABEL  :  a  refugee 
from  Castres,  where  he  was 
born  in  1664.  He  died,  pen 
in  hand,  at  Chelsea,  in  1729. 
He  was  the  author  of  the  well- 
known  French  and  English  Dic- 
tionary, as  well  as  of  several 
historical  works. 

BREVET,  COSME  :  a  Hugue- 
not pastor,  who  took  refuge  in 
Guernsey,  after  the  St.  Bar- 
tholomew massacre.  He  was 
made  minister  of  the  island  of 
Sark.  His  grandson,  Daniel 
Brevin,  D.  D.,  was  prebendary 
of  Durham  and  Dean  of  Lin- 
coln ;  and  the  author  of  several 
important  religious  works. 

BRIOT,  NICOLAS  :  one  of  the 
first  coin-engravers  of  his  age, 
supposed  to  have  been  the  in- 
ventor of  the  coining-press.  He 
was  a  native  of  Lorraine,  a  gen- 
tleman born,  and  possessed  of 
the  genius  of  a  true  artist.  He 
was  Graver  of  the  Mint  to 
Louis  XIII.,  king  of  France  ; 
but  being  a  Protestant,  and 


BRI — BRO 


HUGUENOT  REFUGEES. 


369 


thereby  placed  under  serious 
disabilities,  he  fled  from  his 
native  country  and  took  refuge 
in  England,  where  he  intro- 
duced his  coining-press,  and 
was  appointed  chief  engraver 
to  the  Mint  by  Charles  I.  in 
the  year  1626.  His  first  pub- 
lished work  was  a  fine  medal 
of  the  King,  exhibited  in 
Evelyn,  with  the  artist's  name, 
and  the  date  1628.  In  1632 
we  find  Briot  engaged  coining 
money  upon  the  regular  esta- 
blishment, by  means  of  his 
press,  instead  of  by  hammer- 
ing, as  was  the  previous  prac- 
tice. In  1633,  he  was  sent 
down  to  Scotland  to  prepare 
and  coin  the  coronation  pieces 
of  Charles  I.  On  the  death  of 
Sir  John  Foulis,  Master  of  the 
Mint  in  Scotland,  Briot  was 
appointed  to  the  office  in  1636, 
and  superintended  the  coinage 
for  several  years.  Sir  John 
Falconer,  brother  of  Sir  Alex- 
ander Falconer,  one  of  the 
Senators  of  the  College  of  Jus- 
tice (created  Lord  Halkerton 
in  1647),  having  married  Esther 
Briot,  daughter  of  Nicolas  Briot, 
in  1637,  was  from  that  year 
conjoined  with  him  in  the 
office,  which  he  held  until  the 
outbreak  of  the  civil  war.  The 
coronation-medal  of  Charles  I., 
executed  by  Briot,  and  struck 
at  Edinburgh  on  the  18th  June, 
1633,  was  the  first  piece  struck 
in  Britain  with  a  legend  on  the 
edge,  and,  it  is  supposed,  was 
the  only  gold  one  ever  coined 
in  Scotland.  Three  only  of 
these  fine  medals  are  known 
to  exist,  one  of  which  is  in  the 
British  Museum.  Briot  was 
recalled  to  England  by  the 


King  ;  and,  at  the  time  of  the 
rebellion,  he  took  possession 
of  the  punches,  roller  instru- 
ments, and  coining  apparatus 
at  the  Tower,  by  order  of  his 
Majesty,  and  had  them  re- 
moved, trussed  up  in  saddles, 
at  the  hazard  of  his  life,  for 
the  purpose  of  continuing  the 
coining  operations  in  the  cause 
of  the  King.  The  tradition  in 
the  family — which  survives  in 
the  Falconers,  his  descendants 
— is,  that  he  died  of  grief  on  the 
death  of  Charles  I.  In  the 
Museum  at  Oxford  are  two 
small  carvings  on  wood — re- 
presenting Christ  on  the  Cross, 
and  the  Nativity  —  with  the 
cypher  N.B.  on  each,  which  are 
understood  to  have  been  the 
work  of  this  accomplished  artist. 

BRISSAC,  B.  DE  :  a  refugee 
pastor  from  Chatellerault,  who 
fled  from  France  at  the  Revo- 
cation. We  find  one  of  his 
descendants,  Captain  George 
Brissac,  a  director  of  the  French 
Hospital  in  London  in  1773. 
Haag  says  that  one  of  the 
female  Brjasacs  became  famous 
at  Berlin  for  her  sausages,  and 
especially  for  her  black  pud- 
dings, which  continue  to  be 
known  there  as  "  boudins  fran- 
§ais." 

BROCAS  :  a  noble  family, 
holding  numerous  lordships  in 
the  south  of  France,  mostly  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Bordeaux. 
The  Very  Reverend  Theophilus 
Brocas,  D.D.,  was  a  scion  of 
the  family.  He  escaped  from 
France  at  the  Revocation,  and, 
having  taken  holy  orders,  he 
was  appointed  by  the  Crown  to 
the  deanery  of  Killala  and 
vicarage  of  St.  Anne's,  Dublin. 
24 


370 


HUGUENOT  REFUGEES. 


BRO — BUS 


He  was  a  highly  distinguished 
divine,  and  for  his  valuable 
services  in  promoting  the  arts 
and  manufactures  of  Ireland, 
he  was  presented  with  the  free- 
dom of  the  city  of  Dublin  in  a 
gold  box,  accompanied  by  a 
suitable  address.  He  died  in 
1766,  and  was  interred  in  St. 
Anne's  churchyard,  Dublin. 
He  was  succeeded  in  the 
deanery  by  his  only  son  and 
heir,  the  Rev.  John  Brocas, 
D.D.,  rector  of  Monkstown, 
and  chaplain  of  the  military 
chapel  at  Rings-end.  He  died 
in  1806,  and  left  issue,  the  Rev. 
Theophilus  Brocas,  rector  of 
Strabane,  in  the  diocese  of 
Derry,  and  an  only  sister, 
Georgiana,  who  married,  in 
1804,  Robert  Lindesay,  Esq., 
captain  of  the  Louth  Militia. 
The  Rev.  Theophilus  Brocas 
dying  without  issue,  this  noble 
family  has  become  extinct  in 
the  male  line,  but  survives, 
through  the  female  line,  in  the 
person  of  Walter  Lindesay, 
Esq.,  of  Glen  view,  County 
Wicklow,  J.P.,  who  is  its  pre- 
sent representative. 

BROS  :  see  De  Brasses. 

BRUNEI  :  a  numerous  Pro- 
testant family  in  Saintonge. 
N.  Bnmet,  a  privateer  of  La 
Rochelle,  was  in  1662  con- 
demned to  suffer  corporal  pun- 
ishment, and  to  pay  a  fine  of 
1000  livres,  unless  within  a 
given  time  he  produced  before 
the  magistrates  thirty-six  young 
Protestants  whom  he  had  car- 
ried over  to  America.  Of  course 
the  refugee  youths  were  never 
produced.  At  the  Revocation 
the  Brunets  of  Rochelle  nearly 
all  innigrated  to  London.  We 


find  frequent  baptisms  of  chil- 
dren of  the  name  recorded  in 
the  registers  of  the  churches  of 
Le  Quarre  and  La  Nouvelle 
Patente,  as  well  as  marriages 
at  the  same  place,  and  at 
Wheeler  Street  Chapel  and  La 
Patente  in  Soho. 

BUCER,  MARTIN  :  a  refugee 
from  Alsace  ;  one  of  the  early 
reformers,  an  eloquent  preacher 
as  well  as  a  vigorous  and  learned 
writer.  He  accepted  the  in- 
vitation of  Archbishop  Cranmer 
to  settle  in  England,  where  he 
assisted  in  revising  the  English 
liturgy,  excluding  whatsavoured 
of  popery,  but  not  going  so  far  as 
Calvin.  He  was  appointed  pro- 
fessor of  theology  at  Cambridge, 
where  he  was  presented  with  a 
doctor's  diploma.  But  the 
climate  of  England  not  agree- 
ing with  him,  Bucer  returned  to 
Strasburg,  where  he  died,  1551. 

BUCHLEIN,  otherwise  called 
FAGIUS  :  a  contemporary  of 
Martin  Bucer,  and,  like  him,  a 
refugee  at  Cambridge  TJnwer- 
sity,  where  he  held  the  profes- 
sorship of  Hebrew.  While  in 
that  office,  which  he  held  for 
only  a  few  years,  he  fell  ill  of 
fever,  of  which  he  died,  but  not 
without  a  suspicion  of  having 
been  poisoned. 

BURGESS  :  see  Bourgeois. 

BUSSI£RE,PAUL:  a  celebrated 
anatomist,  F.R.S.,  and  corre 
spending  member  of  various 
scientific  societies.  He  lived 
for  a  time  in  London,  but 
eventually  settled  at  Copen- 
hagen, where  he  achieved  a 
high  reputation.  We  find  one 
Paul  Buissie're  governor  of  the 
French  Hospital  in  London  in 
1729,and  Jean  Buissie're  in  1770. 


— CAR 


HUGUENOT  REFUGEES. 


371 


CAILLEMOTTE,  LA  :  younger 
son  of  the  old  Marquis  de  Ru- 
vigny;  he  commanded  a  Hugue- 
not regiment  at  the  battle  of  the 
Boyne,  where  he  was  killed. 
See  Massue,  and  notices,  pp. 
222,  225. 

CAMBON  :  a  refugee  French 
officer,  who  commanded  one  of 
the  Huguenot  regiments  raised 
in  London  in  1689.  He  fought 
at  the  Boyne  and  at  Athlone, 
and  died  in  1693. 

CAPPEL,  Lotns:  characterized 
as  "  the  father  of  sacred  criti- 
cism." He  was  born  at  Saint 
Elier  in  1585  ;  at  twenty  he 
was  selected  by  the  Duke  de 
Bouillon  as  tutor  for  his  son. 
Four  years  later  the  church  at 
Bordeaux  furnished  him  with 
the  means  of  visiting  the  prin- 
cipal academies  of  England, 
Holland,  and  Germany.  He 
passed  two  years  at  Oxford, 
during  which  he  principally  oc- 
cupied himself  with  the  study 
of  the  Semitic  languages.  He 
subsequently  occupied  the  chair 
of  theology  in  the  university  of 
Saumur  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1658.  Bishop  Hall 
designated  Louis  Cappel  "the 
grand  oracle  of  the  Hebraists." 
Louis'  son  James  was  appointed 
professor  of  Hebrew  in  the 
same  university  at  the  early 
age  of  nineteen.  At  the  Re- 
vocation he  took  refuge  in 
England,  and  became  professor 
of  Latin  in  the  Nonconform- 
ist College,  Hoxton  Square, 
London.  For  notice  see  p. 
257. 

CARBONEL,  JOHN  :  son  of 
Thomas  Carbonel,  merchant  of 
Caen  ;  John  'was  one  of  the 
secretaries  of  Louis  XIV.  He 


fled  to  England  at  the  Revo- 
cation. His  brother  William 
became  an  eminent  merchant 
in  London. 

CARLE,  PETER  :  a  native  of 
Valleraugue  in  the  Cevennes, 
born  1666 ;  died  in  London 
3730.  He  fled  from  France  at 
the  Revocation,  passing  by 
Geneva  through  Switzerland 
into  Holland,  and  finally  into 
England.  He  entered  the 
corps  of  engineers  in  the  army 
of  William,  and  fought  at  the 
Boyne.  He  afterwards  accom- 
panied the  army  through  all  its 
campaigns  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries. He  rose  to  be  fourth 
engineer  in  the  British  service, 
and  retired  upon  a  pension  in 
1693.  He  afterwards  served 
under  Lord  Gal  way  in  Spain, 
after  which  the  king  of  Portu- 
gal made  him  lieutenant-general 
and  engineer-in-chief .  In  1720 
he  returned  to  England,  and 
devoted  the  rest  of  his  life  to 
the  improvement  of  agricul- 
ture, on  which  subject  he  wrote 
and  published  many  useful 
works. 

CARRE'  :  a  Protestant  family 
of  Poitou,  of  which  several 
members  emigrated  to  England 
and  others  to  North  America. 
A.  M.  Carre'  officiated  as  reader 
in  the  French  church  at  Ham- 
mersmith ;  and  another  of  the 
same  name  was  minister  of 
La  Patente,  London.  We  also 
find  one  Francis  Carre*  a  mem- 
ber of  the  consistory  of  New 
York  in  1772. 

CARTATTD  ,  or  CARTAULT,  MAT- 
THEW :  a  Protestant  minister 
who  fled  from  France  at  the 
time  of  the  Bartholomew  mas- 
sacre, and  officiated  as  pastor  of 


372 


HUGUENOT  REFUGEES. 


CAS — CAZ 


the  little  church  of  fugitives  at 
Rye,   afterwards   returning  to 
Dieppe  ;   and    again    (on    the 
revival     of     the    persecution) 
finally    settling   and    dying  in 
England.     One     of    his     sons 
was  minister  of   La   Nouvelle 
Patente,  London,  in  1696. 
CASATJBON,  ISAAC  :  son  of  a 
French    refugee    from    Bour- 
deaux  settled  at  Geneva,  where 
he    was    born    in    1559.     His 
father  returned  to  Paris  on  the 
temporary  cessation  of  the  per- 
secution, became  minister  of  a 
congregation  at  Crest,  and  pro- 

pointed    him     prebendary     of 
Westminster.       He  .  died     at 
London  in   1614,   leaving   be- 
hind   him     twenty    sons    and 
daughters,  and  a  large  number 
of   works  written    during    his 
lifetime,    chiefly    on    classical 
and    religious     subjects.      Hia 
son  Florence   Stephen   Casau- 
bon,  D.D.,  having  accompanied 
his  father  into   England,  was 
entered    a  student    at   Christ 
Church,  Oxford,  in  1614,  where 
he   greatly  distinguished   him- 
self.     In    1622    he    took    the 
degree  of  M.A.     He  was   ap- 

ceeded  with  the  education  of 
his  son  Isaac,  who  gave  signs 
of  extraordinary  abilities.  At 
nine  years  of  age  he  spoke 
Latin  with  fluency.  At  the 
massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew 
the  family  fled  into  conceal- 
ment ;  and  it  was  while  hiding 
in  a  cavern  that  Isaac  received 
from  his  father  his  first  lesson 
in  Greek.  At  nineteen  he  was 
sent  to  the  academy  of  Geneva, 
where  he  studied  jurisprudence 
under  Pacius,  theology  under 
De  Beza,  and  Oriental  lan- 
guages under  Chevalier ;  but  no 
branch  of  learning  attracted 
him  more  than  Greek,  and  he 
was,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four, 
appointed  professor  of  that 
language  at  Geneva.  His  large 
family  induced  him  to  return 
to  France,  and  accept  the  pro- 
fessorship of  civil  laws  in  the 
university  of  Montpellier  ;  and 
there  he  settled  for  a  time.  On 
the  revival  of  persecution  in 
France  after  the  assassination 
of  Henry  IV.,  Casaubon  emi- 
grated to  England.  He  was 


pointed  rector  of  Ickham,  and 
afterwards  prebendary  of  Can- 
terbury. He  was  the  author 
of  many  learned  works.  He 
died  at  Canterbury  in  1671. 


CATJX,   DE 
of  this  name 


many   refugees 
fled  from   Nor- 


mandy into  England.  Several 
of  them  came  over  from  Dieppe 
and  settled  in  Norwich,  their 
names  frequently  occurring  in 


the    registers    of 
church  there,  in 


the    French 
conjunction 


with  those  of  Martineau,  Co- 
lumbine, Le  Monnier,  De  la 
Haye,  etc.  Solomon  de  Caus, 
the  engineer,  whose  name  is 
connected  with  the  first  inven- 
tion of  the  steam-engine,  spent 
several  years  as  a  refugee  in 
England  ;  after  which  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Germany  in  1613, 
and  ultimately  died  in  France, 
whither  he  returned  in  his  old 
age.  For  notice,  see  p.  243. 

CAVALIER,  JOHN  :  tne  (k- 
vennol  leader,  afterwards  bri- 
gadier-general in  the  British 
army,  and  lieutenant-governor 


of  Jersey. 


well  received  by  James  I.,  who  |  234. 

gave  him  a  pension,  and   ap- 1      CAZENOVE 


For  notice,   see  p. 
The    family    of 


CHA — CHA 


HUGUENOT  REFUGEES. 


373 


De  Cazenove  de  Pradines,  at 
Marmande,  in  Guienne,  were 
well-known  Huguenots  at  the 
time  of  the  Revocation.  Several 
members  of  the  family  took  re- 
fuge in  England.  One  of  its 
present  representatives,  Philip 
Cazenove,  is  well  known  as 
a  large-hearted  benefactor  in  | 
every  good  undertaking. 

CHABOT,  JAMES  :  The  head 
of  this  family  in  England,  was 
sent  over  from  France,  when ' 
about  seven  years  of  age,  con-  j 
cealed  in  a  hamper  or  basket,  i 
This  was  during  the  persecu-  i 
tions  which  followed  the  Revo- 
cation of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  i 
It  is  supposed  that  his  parents  ; 
sent  him  over  to  England  to 
prevent  him  being  taken  from 
them  and  brought  up  as  a 
Roman  Catholic.  They  doubt- 
less intended  to  follow  him,  but 
were  unable  to  make  their 
escape.  Nothing  is  known  of 
them,  excepting  that  they  were 
nobles,  and  possessed  of  large 
estates.  For  this  reason,  they 
may  have  been  murdered.  Or, 
the  father  may  have  been  sent 
to  the  galleys,  and  the  mother 
.  immured  in  a  convent  for  life. 
But  as  regards  the  child  who 
had  escaped  to  England,  he  was 
brought  up  in  the  household  of 
the  Duke  of  Bolton.  On  the 
death  of  his  patron,  and  after 
arriving  at  man's  estate,  he 
married,  and  settled  at  High 
Wycombe,  Bucks, — being  de- 
scribed, in  the  registers  of  his 
two  sons,  as  "of  the  Borough 
of  Chopping  Wycombe."  His 
eldest  son,  James,  carried  on 
the  business  of  a  Calendarer 
and  Tabby  Waterer  in  Moor- 
fields,  London, — whose  third 


son,  Philip,  the  grandfather  of 
Philip  James,  settled  in  Spital- 
fields  as  a  silk  dyer, — the  firm 
continuing  for  three  genera- 
tions. Philip  James  Chabot, 
M.A.,  F.R.A.S.,  was  for  about 
twenty  years  Secretary  of  the 
Old  Mathematical  Society  of 
Crispin  Street  (a  society  mainly 
supported  by  the  descendants 
of  French  refugees),  until  its 
incorporation  with  the  Royal 
Astronomical  Society  in  1845. 
He  was  then  made,  in  common 
with  the  other  remaining  mem- 
bers, a  fellow  of  the  latter 
society.  M.  Chabot  was  for 
many  years  a  director  of  the 
French  Hospital.  It  was  mainly 
owing  to  his  exertions  that  the 
Conditioning  of  Silk,  as  prac- 
tised in  all  continental  cities, 
was  established  in  London.  His 
first  cousin,  James  Chabot, 
Esq. ,  of  Manchester,  eldest  son 
of  the  late  James  Chabot,  Esq. , 
of  Malta,  is  now  the  head  of 
the  family. 

CHAIGNEAU,  Louis,  JOHN, 
AND  STEPHEN  :  refugees  from 
St.  Sairenne,  in  the  Charente, 
where  the  family  held  conside- 
rable landed  estates.  They 
settled  in  Dublin,  and  pros- 
pered. One  of  the  sons  of 
Louis  sat  for  Gowran  in  the 
Irish  Parliament  ;  another  held 
a  benefice  in  the  Church.  John 
had  two  sons — Colonel  William 
Chaigneau,  and  John,  Treasurer 
of  the  Ordnance.  The  great- 
grandson  of  Stephen  was  called 
to  the  Irish  bar  in  1793.  He 
eventually  purchased  the  estate 
of  Benown,  in  county  West- 
meath. 

CHAMBERLAYNE,  PETEB, 
M.D.  :  a  physician  of  Paris, 


374 


HUGUENOT  REFUGEES. 


CHA — CHA 


who  fled  into  England  a